


Why didn't the world stop?

by iWriteFanficNotTragedies95



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Kink, Lesbian, Lesbian Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, gayy, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:40:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 90,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22076353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iWriteFanficNotTragedies95/pseuds/iWriteFanficNotTragedies95
Summary: **SPOILERS for season 2**This is a slowburn between Hope and Josie. It's going to be a couple of chapters before they actually see each other for the first time.  Slightly AU. please forgive me haha.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Alaric Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 172
Kudos: 334





	1. My loneliness is killing me... slowly.

It had been a couple of months since Malivore kicked Hope out of his hellhole and she was still having trouble adjusting. She didn’t understand why though, she had spent most of her teenage years alone, so why should this feel any different? Maybe it was because even though she was alone, people knew who she was, what she was. Yes, people avoided her because of it but she was trying to fix it, she was slowly starting to let people in. Or maybe it’s because her only real friend had forgotten her. But whatever the reason was, she felt like she was dying and she, she didn’t like that at all. 

It was Thursday. Hope has spent most of the day wandering around Mystic Falls High School, occasionally attending classes, just trying to find something to occupy her time and to stop her thoughts from eating her alive. As she wandered the empty hallway, she found herself drawn to Alaric’s office. (He had been fired by the student council from the Salvatore Boarding School because of his own personal, human, concern for his safety. He never really trusted his students, well what did you expect when you look after children/teenagers who are supernaturally inclined.) Hope knocked on the open door and walked in. Alaric was sat inside, it looked like he was doing some marking, hope couldn’t be too sure. Hope walked over to Alaric. She took a few seconds to gather her thoughts before she said _“My name isn’t Hope Marshall, it’s Hope Mikaelson. I’m Klaus and Hayley’s daughter. And I know you don’t remember this but erm, you’re the closest thing I have to a father now. And the entire world has forgotten that I exist. And the boy I loved has moved on, so I have absolutely no idea what to do next.”_ She tried to fight back the tears but it no good, she couldn’t stop them, not for a lack of trying.

Alaric stood up and walked over to Hope, he looked sad, he sighed _“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out together.”_ Hope couldn’t stop herself from hugging him. It was the first time she had proper human contact in months. She missed the familiarity of it, the comfort. She just needed someone to know, and she’s glad that the first person to know was Alaric. She knows deep down that he doesn’t actually remember her but at least she told someone and that’s all that mattered to her at this moment in time. After a few moments Hope stepped away. She made up some excuse to leave. 

Later that day, Hope really wanted to wolf out, but she can’t really do that anymore because there is no safe place for her to do so. When she lived at the Boarding School, she had full reign on the grounds to wolf out but since she is living in a little motel room, she has nowhere to be herself, well not completely. So, she settled on taking a walk around the town. She hadn’t really gotten chance to spend much time in the town before, in all fairness she didn’t want to. She knew it’s history, she knew how she would be treated if people found out what she really was. She pushed that thought out of her mind and found herself heading to the coffee shop. Once inside she headed to the counter and ordered a Cappuccino, she picked it up and headed back outside and found somewhere to sit. 

This little town is beautiful in so many ways. The buildings are old, but rustic, pleasing on the eyes. The centre of town looked like a massive open garden with the old town hall building perched on the edge of it. It felt peaceful. Hope just sat there staring at the open space drinking her coffee, she was lost in nothingness, her mind blank for the first time in a long time. It was a while before her thoughts returned. She decided that one day she will sit here and draw her surroundings, she’s not sure when she will get the time to though. Especially not now that she told Alaric who she really was, he’s probably going to want to start training her again. She groaned at the thought. 2 months without training every morning had given her some well-earned rest, she could actually have a lie-in without the thought of getting up at 5am. Not that she did much sleeping in that crappy motel. Her neighbours were always way too loud and in all honesty, she was just too lonely to sleep. 

As the evening dragged on, Hope was still sat nursing her cappuccino, which had now turned cold. She finally decided it was time for her to move. Hope always liked to people watch. She secretly envied them. Not one of them really knew what was going on, they all just blindly followed along when the latest ‘gas leak’ happened. These people have just given up questioning what is actually happening in their quiet little town. Hope finally finished her drink, threw her cup in the bin and headed back home. Not that she could really call it that. She belonged at the Salvatore Boarding School, she knew that, but she can’t be there right now. She can’t surround herself with people she knows and sort of like, when they don’t even remember who she is. 

As she approached the motel, she fumbled around in her bag looking for the key to her room, muttering under her breath about never being able to find anything when she looks for it. After about a minute of searching she finally finds it and pulls it out of her bag just as she reaches her door. She puts the key in the lock and turns it, kicking the door open. She enters then kicks the door shut behind her and throws her bag onto the spare bed. Under her feet she notices a piece of paper that had been slipped under the door while she had been gone. She picked it up and read it. _**‘You need to pay your bill for this week. You have 48 hours to pay it or you will be out’**_ was scrawled across it, clearly it was from the manager. Hope scrunched up the paper and threw it in the bin, she walked over to her bag and picked up her purse. She looked through it, she only had about $300 left. She took out $250, threw the purse back on the bed and shoved the money into her back pocket, picked up her key and exited her room. 

She wasn’t paying any attention when she walked out and she walked straight into someone. _“Oh shit, sorry I didn’t see you”_ She said not really paying attention to who she was actually talking to.

 _“Hope, watch your language and you should be more careful when you rush out of rooms.”_ Alaric responded. His voice made Hope’s head snap up quickly.

 _“I’m so sorry, I was just… on my way to pay my bill. What are you doing here anyways?”_ She sounded defeated but there was a slight curious hint to her voice.

 _“I was actually coming to find you. I have been to several different motels before I found this one. I didn’t realise just how many we actually had in this town. How long have you been staying here?”_ His voice was gruff, and he looked even worse.

 _“Well, I’ve been here 2 months really. Basically, I’ve been staying here since I got back. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I can’t go back to the Boarding School so… I’m sorry do you want to come in?”_ Hope asked, wishing he would say no.

 _“Erm no, I don’t think I will. I think it would make me a bit too depressed.”_ He laughed. _“What I was going to say was, you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want too. Caroline always keeps the house open and well, the Twins are at school, so their bedroom is free if you want to stay there? I won’t be around that much, so you’ll pretty much have the place to yourself.”_ He sounded slightly sad when he mentioned the Twins. He clearly misses them, not that he would ever admit it to Hope.

Hope tried to seem like she was contemplating the offer for a while. She didn’t want to seem too eager about saying yes, but she knew she couldn’t afford to stay here another week. _“Erm, yeah sure I can do.”_ Hope nodded. _“Let me just pay my bill and pack my stuff then I’ll be ready.”_

 _“That’s fine, I’ll walk down with you. How much are you paying for this place anyways?”_ Alaric gestured to Hope to start walking.

 _“I pay $250 a week.”_ Hope shrugged, like it was no big deal and she had all the money in the world to burn. They walk the rest of the way in silence. It’s only when they reach the managers desk does Alaric speak again. _“I would like to pay the bill for room 24 please. She will also be checking out tonight as well.”_ He took out his credit card and paid. The manager muttered something about losing his best customer. Alaric just rolled his eyes, finished paying then turned to Hope. _“Okay, you go and pack up your things and I’ll go wait in the car. Don’t take too long. I want to get something to eat before it gets too late”_ Hope nodded and thanked him. She turned and headed to the room. 

Hope rushed and pushed everything she currently owned into 2 suitcases and her rucksack, she picked them up and carried them out to the car, placing them into the boot. Hope rushed to the office and gave the key back to the manager and took one last look at her ‘home’, the place where she lived for the past 2 months. She approaches the car, gets into the passenger side seat and sits there in silence while Alaric drives them to the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so reading this back to myself I know it might seem like I'm trying to couple Hope and Alaric, but I'm not. It's a necessary evil for the story. I can't remember if it was addressed during the series surrounding where Hope had been living, so I made something up. I'm going to try and upload a new chapter once a week so please bare with. Let me know what you think.


	2. Home is where your Principle (currently) lives.

Chapter 2- Home is where your Principle (currently) lives.

It’s about 8:30pm when Alaric and Hope pull up to the house. It was starting to get dark. Alaric turned off the engine and sat there for a few seconds, it looked like he was about to say something but then decided against it, so he just sighed and got out of the car. Hope soon followed. Hope walked round to the back of the car and pulled her suitcases out of the boot, then headed towards the house. It was only when she walked into the house that she spoke for the first time since getting in the car. _“Wow. This place is beautiful.”_ Her eyes darted around the room. It was an open floor plan. 

The front room and kitchen where joined, the front room was on her left side and the kitchen on the right. The front room looked peaceful. There were two white 3-seater sofas in the middle of the room sitting at a slight angle, facing each other, but also facing the fireplace that was carefully placed along the back wall. A big 60inch TV sat just above that. There was some candles and decorations strategically placed along the mantlepiece. In the centre of the room was a medium size glass coffee table with gold legs and trimming. There were photos of the Twins placed on different surfaces around the room, all showing them at different ages, they looked cute when they were younger. It almost made Hope forget that they were the ‘mean girls’ for a second. It was a simple layout, but everything seemed to belong in its place. You could tell that this was Caroline’s work, it was inviting, peaceful and homely. 

The kitchen was modest in size. There was a large waist high white marble top island in the centre with 4 barstool type chairs surrounding it. It housed a farmhouse sink with a brass tap. Behind the island was cupboards and counters, their design matched that of the island. There was a big range cooker with 6 hobs placed in the middle of the counters with an extractor fan just above it. A big double fridge sat off to the left. 

The stairs sat neatly in the far-left hand corner, leading both upstairs and down. Adjacent to the stairs were a row of doors, Hope guessed it was some sort of storage cupboards, but she wasn’t too bothered about that just yet. She just wanted to put her stuff away and have something to eat, she was starting to get hungry. Hope was slightly lost in her thoughts and from taking in the room that she didn’t hear or feel Alaric walking closer to her, it wasn’t until he started talking that she noticed him. _“So, do you want me to show you to the room? Or will you be able to find it yourself? Also, what do you want to eat? I’m starving and I feel like I could eat a horse.”_ He laughed. Hope shot him a strange look. _“I wouldn’t actually eat a horse.”_

 _“Erm yeah can you show me where it is please? Out of all the years I’ve known you, I have never actually been here before. And I’m hungry too. Can we just order something?”_ Hope replied.

 _“That’s fine, you can pick something once you get settled.”_ Alaric gestured Hope to follow him as he walked up the stairs. 

When they reached the top, there were 4 doors spread along the corridor, one of the doors had the names of the Twins on them. ‘Lizzie & Josie’ was written in bright pink foam lettering. Hope laughed to herself slightly, clearly that was Lizzie’s doing. The thought of them crossed Hope’s mind and for a few moments her heart pained in sadness. It kind of felt wrong that she was going to be staying in their room when they don’t even remember who she is. _“That is the bathroom”_ Alaric points to the first door on the landing. “That is Caroline’s room” the second door in. _“That is obviously the Twins room and my room is at the end. I’ll let you get settled and I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready. Don’t take too long though, that horse is starting to look more appetizing”_ Alaric laughed to himself then headed back downstairs. 

Hope pushed the door to the Twins room open with her foot. Once inside Hope dropped her bags on the floor next to one of the desks. Both sides of the room looked pretty much the same. A desk on either side of the room, a set of chests of drawers placed on either side of the door, two double beds next to the desks and a bedside table with a lamp next to each bed. The only difference between the two sides were the colours. One of the beds had bright pink bedding, the other was pale blue. Clearly the pink one was Lizzies. Hope opted for the blue one. She walked over to it and sat down, it surprised her how comfortable it was. It might be the first time in 2 months that she could get a decent night’s sleep. Hope bounced on the bed slightly before getting the energy to stand up again. She could have definitely fallen asleep if she hasn’t been so hungry. So, she forced herself up and headed back downstairs.

Hope jumped down the last 2 steps of the stairs and her feet landed softly on the floor. She saw Alaric sat on one of the sofa’s engrossed in some TV show about the history of the Battle of Gettysburg. He was muttering to himself about how the show got all the information wrong, that it was actually a fight between Vampires, Werewolves and Witches that started the whole mess in the first place. It made Hope smile, it felt familiar to her, it felt safe. Hope moved silently over to the sofa that sat opposite Alaric, plonked herself down then turned to him and said, _“So what are we going to have to eat?”_ This startled him, for a second he forgot that there was someone else in the house with him. 

_“Oh geez, erm, I don’t know. What do you want to eat? I could eat anything to be honest.”_ Alaric smiled.  
_“Let’s just get a pizza. I’m so hungry I can’t think straight and I’m tired as well, so that seems like the best option, and the quickest.”_ Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket and ordered it through the app. _“Should be here in 20 minutes.”_ She stated. _“So why do you even have this place? In all the years I’ve known you and the Twins, you have never mentioned this place before.”_ Hope seemed genuinely curious. 

_“Caroline brought this place back when we started the school, we don’t use it that often though. We kind of use it as a halfway house for transitioning students, those who are coming and those who are leaving. It’s more for the younger ones who still have family involved. And they want to see the school beforehand. Caroline stays here when she’s back. And well, since I got fired, I can no longer live at the school so… Here I am, I guess.”_ Alaric sounded sad when he spoke, he himself seemed lost. That school means everything to him, it is pride and joy. (Not including the Twins). 

Hope didn’t know what to say in response, so she just nodded. They sat there in a slightly uncomfortable silence with the TV playing in the background. Hope messed around on her phone for a bit until the doorbell rang. She jumped up off the sofa and practically ran to answer the door. She opened the door and thanked the delivery driver, took the pizzas and drinks, gave him the money and tipped him $5. She spun round and with the pizzas in hand and kicked the door shut. She walked over to Alaric and handed him his share. They sat and ate their meals without speaking. It seemed nice to her, being able to spend time with him without any outside pressures. This is what she needed. She needed the comfort of a father tonight. 

_“Hey, Mr Saltzman thank you for letting me stay here and thank you for paying my motel bill. I really appreciate it. I truly do. If it’s okay with you I’m going to head up to the bedroom. I just wanted to say again, thank you.”_ Hope stood up and started to walk away. 

_“You can call me Alaric when we are here, just don’t call it me at school okay? And it’s okay, from what you told me you’re like a daughter to me, so it only seemed like the right thing to do. Goodnight Hope.”_ Alaric smiled and turned his attention back to the TV.

Hope headed upstairs and made her way into the Twins room, she started rooting around in one of the suitcases for her shower stuff. She picked them up and rolled them in a towel along with some clean pyjamas and headed to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom she locked the door and turned on the shower. She got undressed and jumped in the shower. Hope had mastered the art of being able to have a shower in under 5 minutes, due to living in a motel for 2 months she knew the hot water used to be very temperamental. But now that she is here, she thought why shouldn’t she take full advantage of a long shower? Being in this house made her feel comforted but also extremely lonely. It was a reminder that everyone had forgotten her, the thoughts usually hit her in waves, but they were coming more frequently this time. She could usually manage it, but there was something about today that has just knocked her sideways. She felt the pressure building up inside her and she fell against the wall and slid to the floor of the tub. She couldn’t stop herself, so she gave in and curled up in a ball and cried.

After about 15 minutes in this position Hope finally had the strength to stand up again, albeit she was very shaky. She gathered herself, finished having a wash, turned the water off then got dressed. She gathered her things, turned her music off and headed back to the bedroom. Hope decided that it was a better time than any to sort and store some of her clothes.

When Hope arrived back in the room, she placed her dirty clothes on the chair and started to tackle her suitcases. One was full of dirty clothes that she hadn’t taken to the laundromat yet, so she left that one alone, she will sort it out tomorrow. Hope moved over to the chest of drawers on Josie’s side of the room and opened it. There were still some clothes in there, they looked almost new, which surprised her, she wasn’t sure why Josie didn’t have them at school with her. Hope piled them together and started to place her own clothes in drawer. For some reason this made Hope’s heart flutter slightly. The sight of her clothes next to Josie’s. She pushed the thought out of her mind and continued with placing her own clothes. 

As Hope was placing her last few items into the drawers, she felt something under one pile of Josie’s clothes. Hope usually wasn’t this nosey when it came to people’s dressers but for some reason, she felt slightly drawn to it. Hope’s hand hovered over the pile for a few seconds like it was debating, but that didn’t last long before her hand lifted the clothes up. Her eyes went wide, and she stepped back slightly, almost falling over her suitcase they lay behind her. Hope regained her balance and reached back into the drawer, her hand pulling out a relatively big purple rabbit vibrator. _“Josette Saltzman, you dirty devil.”_ Hope laughed, genuinely laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. She contemplated what to do with this thing in her hand for a while before deciding on placing it back in it’s not so secret hiding space.  
Once Hope had finished tidying up, she jumped into bed. She couldn’t wait to fall asleep. It was only a matter of minutes before she fell asleep. She had definitely earned it today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, I'm not great at interior design, so describing what a room looks like it the hardest thing for me to do. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!


	3. Bad things will go... eventually

Chapter 3- Bad things will go… eventually.

It was around 8:30am Friday morning when Hope startled herself awake. She had been dreaming about Malivore’s hell pit and the complete and utter darkness that surrounded her, she had worked up a sweat without realising it. The room was eerily quiet, and she momentarily forgot where she was. She picked up her phone and panicked slightly when she noticed the time. She rushed to get washed and dressed then headed downstairs. 

Hope looked around for Alaric but couldn’t find him. _“Shit. He’s not here so it looks like I’m going to have to run to school”_ Hope sounded slightly annoyed with herself, she’s never stayed in bed this long before, she’s usually up before 6am. Clearly, she needed the sleep, so she couldn’t really fault herself. She headed to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. When she approached the fridge to get the milk out, she saw a note on the door _‘Don’t bother coming in today, you need the rest. I’ll be back tonight. Alaric.’_ The note was simple but made Hope smile, she took this as a sign to slow down a bit.

Hope finished making her coffee then headed back upstairs. She was going to get her clothes washed today. Hope picked up the full suitcase and took it downstairs. She found the washing machine quite easily. It was in the basement, the room was small, but it was home to the washing machine, tumble dryer and what looked like some ancient gym equipment that hadn’t been touched in years, it probably belonged to Alaric from his days of being a vampire hunter. Hope loaded her clothes into the washing machine and switched it on. She sighed. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with herself today. Maybe she would take it easy, if she actually knew the meaning of the word.

Hope grabbed a bowl of cereal before she decided she was going to watch some TV. She walked over to the sofa, sat down, picked up the remote from the coffee table and switched on the TV. She munched away on her breakfast as she flicked through the channels until she found something mildly appeasing, it was some period drama that was set in England, it seemed like it was about a group of nuns that help woman to give birth. She hadn’t watched it before, but she seemed to get the gist of it. It wasn’t long before the washing machine bleeped, Hope went and took her wet clothes out and placed them in the dryer, she also put another wash on. Hope returned back to her spot on the sofa, occasionally paying attention to the TV as her mind started to wander. 

Hope’s thoughts drifted away from her for a few hours. She loved the freedom of not having a monster to chase after, but she hated not having anything to do. But for some reason her thoughts kept coming back to the vibrator in the drawer. It hit her like a constant wave of ‘What was Josie doing with it? Why is it here and not with her? Did Josie secretly come home to use it? Did she use it on herself or did she bring Penelope here and use it on her? Or did she use it on someone else entirely?’ Hope was shocked about her thoughts. Why was she thinking about this? She had absolutely no reason to wonder about Josie’s sex life. But then again, it’s not like she can just walk up to her and ask her about it. I mean, she could, but I think it would most definitely freak Josie out to hell and beyond. 

On the other hand, however Hope always found it fun to sit and think about how different people have sex, to imagine if they are kinky or vanilla or if they were more likely to please themselves. And judging by the vibrator hidden in the drawer, Josette Saltzman definitely has a kinky side. Hope’s eyes drew wide at the thought and a smile stretched across her face. 

It was an involuntary movement, but it subconsciously made Hope’s thoughts get more intense, so eventually she relented and went up to the room. There was just something about this toy that she was drawn to. Hope was kicking herself, why she was doing this she will never know. Well she did know, but she would never tell anyone that she had a secret fetish for using other people’s toys. 

The instant Hope entered the room, her hands found their way into the drawer and pulled out the purple toy. Hope fully knew (no pun intended) that what she was about to do was wrong, but there was something inside her that didn’t want her to stop. Hope took the toy out and switched it on, there was a slight buzz and vibration coming from it. _“Well I’m glad it still works”_ Hope smiled to herself. She took the toy into the bathroom and washed it thoroughly, several times, before running back to the room where she first found it. Hope immediately locked the door behind her and jumped on the bed.

There was a new and different type of excitement running through her, she couldn’t describe it even if she wanted to, and she didn’t want to at this current moment. She just let herself enjoy it. Hope placed the vibrator on the nightstand then she took her shirt off and pull her trousers down, throwing them both on the ground next to the bed. She lay on the bed in just her underwear. It was a pretty nice matching set she was wearing today; it was a dark green lace bra and thong. It made her happy when she wore a matching set, it’s the little things in life that keep her balanced, somewhat. 

Hope picked up her phone and opened a private browser, typed in the address to a porn site and scrolled through it until she found something that she mildly liked the look of. She settled on a generic video of a man and woman fucking on a sofa.  
Hope didn’t really care that much for porn, but she had become accustomed to the sounds of sex. Most nights at the motel were just filled with men and women moaning and whimpering -usually in pleasure- and the sound of furniture banging against the thin walls of her motel room. A part of her found it really annoying, especially when she had a really bad day. But on several occasions (even though she’d never ever admit it to anyone) it turned her on. 

Hope had only used a vibrator a few times before. She never really thought much of them, she just didn’t really want to spend money on something that she’s hardly ever going to use, because most of the time she wouldn’t have time to use it, especially because her days were usually filled with; training with Alaric, going to school, fighting the latest monster of the week and dealing with Lizzie Saltzman drama of the week. But today was one of those rare occasions. She wanted to indulge, she needed to indulge but she didn’t know why or what suddenly brought this on. It had been a while since she last got herself off. And well she had the house to herself so why not? 

Hope placed her phone on the nightstand, hit play on the video and got settled on the bed. After a few seconds the sounds of moans started to fill the room. Hope picked up the toy and switched it on, the same vibrations she felt earlier came to life again, Hope smiled.

She started moving the vibrator across her nipples and down her stomach before it came to rest on her centre above her underwear. The vibrations were light against her clit, it tingled more than anything. She cycled through the settings to find a faster speed and a heavier vibration. 

It only took a minute to find one she liked; it had a set pattern, it started off with light vibrations that built up to full strength in about 30 seconds then it repeated itself. Hope applied pressure to her clit and moved the toy up and down her full length until she started to feel the wetness gather between her legs. She was half focused on her body and half watching the video that was playing next to her, she could hear and see the woman moaning as the man started to eat her out. He looked like he really knew what he was doing. _“I wish someone would eat me out like that”_ Hope muttered to herself, slightly shocked that the words actually came out of her mouth.

After a few minutes of feeling the vibrations pulsating against her, Hope had gathered enough wetness in-between her legs for the vibrator to slip inside her with ease. Hope removed her bra and thong and threw them onto the floor then she bent her knees and lifted her hips to help the toy find the sweet spot of her centre. Hope moaned as she pressed it into her, her nipples hardened, and it wasn’t long before the slick sounds of the vibrator mixed with her wetness filled the room. 

After a couple of minutes of thrusting the toy inside her, Hope shifted onto her knees and rearranged the pillows so she could straddle them, she could use the height of the pillows to rock back on as the toy vibrated inside her, the height made it feel like there was someone laying underneath her. Hope found a rhythm she enjoyed. She placed one hand against the wall to steady herself and the other hand wrapped the base of the toy to still it as she rocked her hips backwards and forwards, slightly lifting her hips up so that the majority of the shaft left her body before she thrusted herself back onto it, repeating it. The rabbit’s ears placed either side of her clit, stimulating her even more. Her moans became more powerful with every vibration that flowed through her.

Hope listened to the video playing next to her, the man was now pounding himself into the woman. She could tell the woman was reaching her climax point, it was a skill she had picked up from listening to her ‘neighbours’. She can almost exactly pinpoint the moment just before an orgasm was going to happen, maybe one day it will turn into a useful skill but at this moment, it had no value to her, or so she thought.

As the sounds of the woman’s orgasm filled the room, Hope’s own body reacted to the moans in an unexpected way, within seconds Hope’s body betrayed her. Her orgasm came thick and fast. Her hips buckled underneath her and she collapsed forwards as she rode through the waves that rippled within her body. It was so strong that her breathing became heavy and her body started to sweat. Her moans filled the room. She couldn’t verbalise any words, her breath got stuck in her throat and all she could muster was an _“ugghhh”_ , as her body hit the mattress.

Hope lay there, faceplanted to the mattress for few moments before she had the strength to turn the toy off and removed it from inside her, she dropped it on the floor next to the bed. Hope was in a daze and she rode the orgasm high for as long as it would allow her to. She couldn’t believe how easy it was for her to cum, usually it takes her about 30 minutes to even get wet these days. It really did surprise her, but she just brushed it off and put it down to the intensity of the toy.

Eventually Hope got up off the bed, picked up the toy, headed to the bathroom. She washed the toy again then jumped in the shower to freshen up. Hope had a quick shower then headed back to the bedroom and got dressed. She returned the vibrator back to its rightful place in the drawer. Hope looked at the state of the bed and decided to strip the sheets and wash them as well. She gathered everything together and headed down to the washer. 

Hope felt better now that she’s had a release. She still didn’t know what to do with herself, but she definitely felt better. When Hope got to the washer, she dropped the dirty load onto the floor then proceeded to remove her clothes from the dryer and fold them. She moved back over to the washer and mindlessly swapped the clothes between machines and deposited her latest dirty secret into the washer, switching both machines on and collecting her fresh clothes, she gathered them and took them back up to her room, put them away and re-made the bed before finally returning to her spot on the sofa where she spent the rest of the afternoon, trying her hardest not to think about the days events. 

As the afternoon came and went, it was early evening before Alaric came back to the house. When he walked through the door, he dropped his bag onto the floor, and kicked off his shoes next to it. He was moaning about the state of MFHS and all the paperwork he has to do. At first, he didn’t notice Hope sitting on the sofa, so he was startled when she first spoke to him. _“Hey, I was just about to make something to eat, do you want anything?” Hope’s voice was soft._

 _“oh geez, sorry, I forgot you were here. Erm yeah that would be great thanks. What are you going to make?”_ Alaric grabbed his chest slightly before he headed over to the other sofa to join Hope. 

_“I was thinking Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s one of the easiest things I know how to cook.”_ Hope laughed. 

_“Yeah that’s fine.”_ Alaric sighed. He picked up the remote and switched the TV over to the History Channel. 

Hope just laughed, stood up and headed to the kitchen. She started getting the ingredients ready. _“Do you have any red wine?”_ Hope asked. 

_“Why do you need red wine? And if we have any it will be in the first room on your left.”_ Alaric sounded confused but didn’t have the strength to question her further. 

_“Thanks.”_ Hope shot back. She wandered over to the door and opened it. It was a small room probably 6 meters long and 2 meters wide, but it housed over 300 different bottles of alcohol. Different wines, whiskeys and brandy. Hope walked into the room and looked through the shelf and found a bottle of Chianti and picked it up. As she turned to walk out of the room, her eyes found a bottle of 1965 Glen Mhor whiskey. She picked that up as well then headed back to the kitchen. 

It took less than 30 minutes for Hope to cook and prepare everything. She plated it up and set it down on the kitchen island. “Dinner’s ready” She called to Alaric. Alaric jumped up from the sofa and joined Hope in the kitchen. Hope pulled 2 glasses out of the cupboard and poured herself and Alaric a glass of whiskey then proceeded to sit down at the table. 

_“What are you doing drinking Whiskey? You aren’t old enough.”_ Alaric sounded pissed off and tried to grab the glass from Hope’s hand. Hope pulled away and placed it down next to her. 

_“I’m a Mikaelson. Whiskey runs through my veins just as much as Witch, Werewolf and Vampire blood does. And you can’t stop me from drinking it.”_ Hope laughed and took a sip of her drink. Alaric wanted to argue back but he was just too tired and from what he remembered about Klaus Mikaelson there was no point in trying to argue with his daughter. 

Hope wanted to try and make conversation with Alaric, but it felt slightly too weird to ask him about his day and she didn’t know what they would talk about, so they just sat in silence as they finished their meal. Alaric washed the pots as Hope poured them both another drink and made her way to sit on the sofa. Soon after Alaric joined her on and sat on the other sofa. He finally changed the channel from the History channel and put a film on. It was called ‘Blades of Glory’, it seemed like some sort of comedy about 2 male ice skaters. Alaric really seemed to enjoy it, so Hope just absentmindedly laughed along. 

Hope finally spoke. _“Are you ready for the football match tomorrow?”_

 _“Erm yeah, it will be nice to see Lizzie and Josie as well.”_ Alaric responded. Hope just nodded her head, she didn’t know what else to say. 

After the film had finished, Hope said goodnight to Alaric then made her way up to bed. She got changed into her nightwear then settled into the mattress. Her mind wandered for a while; she wasn’t looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. Maybe she would have been more enthusiastic if they knew who she was. Her mind settled soon after and she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo, new chapter. I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did writing it. Chapter 4 is going to be a good one!


	4. Good Things Come... After a while

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who have read this story so far! I had fun writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> The moment I think most of you have been waiting for has finally arrived! ENJOY! :D

Chapter 4: Good Things Come… After a while.

Hope woke up to a knock on her door. _“Hope wake up! We are going to be late!”_ Alaric sounded annoyed. Hope groaned as she picked up her phone. The time read 06:43. She placed it back on the nightstand then rolled onto her back and just lay there for a few minutes. Alaric knocked again but with more force this time.

 _“For god sake.”_ Hope muttered. “ _I’m awake!”_ Hope responded. She threw the quilt over her head and squeezed her eyes shut; though it didn’t last long before she groaned again then sat up. She could hear Alaric shuffling outside her door, she wished that he would just leave, but she knew he wouldn’t until she opened the door. Hope forced herself off the bed and made her way to the door. She yanked it open with force just as Alaric was about to knock on it again, this time instead of hitting the door Alaric’s hand hit Hope in the face. _“Ouch! What the hell was that for?”_ Hope rubbed her head and just glared at him.

 _“Oh my god, I am so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you in the face. The door was closed… and then it wasn’t. I… I didn’t see you standing there. Are you okay?”_ Alaric sounded panicked. He didn’t know what to do, he stood there for a few seconds before he pulled Hope into a hug. Hope froze at the unexpected contact. Alaric soon released her. _“I’ll go downstairs and let you get ready. Do you want a bacon sandwich? I’ll make you two bacon sandwiches and a cup of coffee...”_ Alaric voice trailed off, he quickly spun around on his feet then headed downstairs.

Hope was still stood in the doorway when she heard Alaric reach the bottom step. She was in a slight daze from what had just happened. She shook her head then turned back into her room, kicking the door closed behind her. Hope reached into the dresser and pulled out her Timberwolves uniform. She just stared at it. She didn’t really want to wear it, and she wasn’t looking forward to seeing everyone today. She sighed and threw the clothes on the bed. She pulled out a fresh set of underwear then walked back over to the bed.

Once Hope had got finished getting dressed, she went to the bathroom, had a wash then brushed her teeth. She headed downstairs to join Alaric. As he had promised he had made her 2 bacon sandwiches and a cup of coffee. Hope was grateful. She headed over to the kitchen and sat down at the table. She scarfed down her breakfast in record time. Clearly, she was hungry.

 _“I just wanted to apologise to you again Hope. I really didn’t mean to hit you in the head. I just… I wasn’t expecting you to open to door so fast. Or get up so quickly… The Twins used to take ages to get up. So, banging on the door is a force of habit.”_ Alaric spoke softly. He looked sad and filled with regret.

 _“It’s fine. It didn’t hurt that much anyways. I do have a thick skull after all. The benefits of being part werewolf I guess, plus I heal fast too.”_ Hope laughed it off, rubbing her head slightly at the reminder of it. _“What time is the game?”_ she asked in-between sipped of her coffee.

 _“Kick off is at 2:30pm”_ He replied.

Hope choked on her drink. _“Why the hell did you wake me up at quarter to 7 then?!”_ she was slightly annoyed.

 _“I need you to help me sort some things out at the school before the rest of the kids turn up. They have been told to arrive at 12pm for a team meeting beforehand and we need to head off at 1:30pm.”_ Alaric shrugged and Hope just groaned and rolled her eyes in the process.

Xxxxxxxx

It was 9:30am when they arrived at Mystic Falls High School. Alaric unlocked the front door and walked straight to his office; Hope shuffled behind him. Alaric walked over to his desk and picked up some papers he had left there yesterday. Hope hovered in the doorway. Alaric was mumbling to himself, so Hope didn’t pay much attention, she just stood there, staring into the hallway. If anyone saw them, it would look a bit strange. Hope pushed the thought out of her head, her thoughts ran away from her and she didn’t hear Alaric talking to her until he was stood right behind her. It startled her.

 _“Oh shit. Sorry I didn’t hear what you said.”_ Hope’s face became flustered.

Alaric laughed. _“I said, I need you to help me load everything into the coach. We need to fill the bottles up and pack some of our equipment away. We also need to sort the sports hall out for next week.”_

Hope shuffled out the doorway and started heading to the sports hall. _“Why couldn’t you have done this all yesterday? I’m not a member of staff here, I’m a student.”_

 _“Well you have super strength and some of the equipment is heavy. Plus, I can’t trust the staff here to get it done anyway.”_ Alaric shrugged.

Hope and Alaric just filled their time with general chit-chat as they got on with the tasks at hand. Alaric was happy that he was going to see the Twins today, he hadn’t seen them for a few weeks. Not since Lizzie got back from her trip with Caroline.

It wasn’t long before some of the students started to turn up. After about 20 minutes all the students had arrived and were all talking to each other. Maya and Ethan both made their way over to Hope and started talking to her. Maya hugged her, so did Ethan. Hope smiled at them both. At least she had a couple of ‘friends’ she thought to herself. Hope chatted with them both for a couple of minutes, asking them how their weekend had been so far. Ethan said that he spent hours trying to kill people on a video game, Maya retorted and said that he was useless and kept getting himself killed. Ethan punched Maya in the arm then she hit him back. Hope laughed.

 _“Okay everyone! Listen up.”_ Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Alaric. _“Don’t be fooled by the Stallons today. They are ruthless in their own right. They might be a School for the rich but that doesn’t mean they are stupid. With that being said, lets kick their asses! We got this! Go Timberwolves!”_ Alaric’s speech wasn’t the best, but it got the job done. Hope was the first one to show support and the rest soon followed. “ _Alright everyone, let’s get on the bus and we’ll head off!”_ Hope and Alaric made sure everyone got on the coach before they did, they were soon settled and were on their way.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It was 2pm when they arrived at the Salvatore Boarding School. Everyone was already on the pitch waiting for them. As Hope stepped off the coach Landon and Hope stared at each other. Josie noticed this walked over to Landon _“Do you know what girl?”_ She asked.

 _“Not really, just erm … We shared a milkshake once”_ Landon replied.

On the other side of the field, Hope turned to Alaric and said as they walked onto the field. _“Let’s just get this over with as fast as possible.”_

 _“Works for me. I’m no more comfortable being here as you are.”_ Alaric replied. Then he got pulled away by Dorian.

When Maya and Hope reached the pitch to start the game, Josie and Landon were stood in the middle. Hope called heads, but someone used magic to change the coin so it was double ‘tails’. The new headteacher seems weird, Hope thought.

 _“Tails never fails”_ Said Landon.

 _“We’ll take the ball”_ Josie smiled.

 _“So it begins… erm, shake hands.”_ Vardermus replied before heading to the sideline.

Hope and London shook hands for an extended period. They stared at each other, before Landon moved away. _“Having another milkshake moment?”_ Josie asked with a twinge of sadness in her voice. Hope pushed her lips out slightly. _“Sorry.”_ She said with a sad half-smile. They shook hands but Hope quickly pulled away and rolled her eyes as Josie walked away. Her heart filled with some sadness at seeing both Landon and Josie. All she wanted to do was hug them both, but she knew there was no point as they didn’t know who she is, other than the “milkshake girl”.

The game was pretty un-eventual for the nonmagical students playing, but the magic they were using was starting to annoy Hope. Alaric pulled Hope to one said and started telling her about the latest monster that attacked a Mystic Falls student. _“We definitely have another monster walking around these woods. Dorians digging into the research, but he thinks it’s a Shunka. And before you ask that what is, it’s a carnivorous creature that feeds only on werewolves.”_ Alaric explained.

 _“Good thing it’s not a full moon.”_ Hope replied _._

 _“Yeah except Raf has been stuck in wolf form since you’ve been gone_.”

“ _Wait Raf? I didn’t even know that he turned."_

_“Yeah, happened when we were fighting Triad. Hasn’t been able to turn back since.”_

_“Of course, he can’t turn back. I’m the only one that can turn him back. I’m the one that gave him that Crescent Moon ring…. Okay, look I gotta go find him. Before the Shunka finds him first.”_ Hope was annoyed with herself. She needed to find a way to get out of the game. She went back on the pitch.

The game carried on. Josie told Landon to ‘bury little miss milkshake’ then stared Hope down as she put her mouth guard in. _“That’s aggressive.”_ Hope muttered, she was distracted so she didn’t see the ball fly into her. It juttered passed her and she chased it. She picked it up and threw it just before Landon tackled her down. Hope used a twisted ankle as an excuse to leave to go and find Raf. Hope fake hobbled off the pitch towards Alaric. _“looks like you… need a new quarterback.”_ She smiled at him. _“happy hunting.”_ He replied as he handed her a bag.

Xxxxxxxx

Hope managed to find Raf and turn him back into his human form. She killed the Shunka then headed back to the school. By the time she got back, both schools were fighting each other… again. This time Alaric started it when he punched Vardermus. Hope managed to pull Alaric off from him and pushed him towards the bus, the rest of the MFHS students followed them. It was around 7pm when they arrived back at MFHS. Alaric made sure the rest of the students left the school safely before he drove Hope back to the house.

He and Hope walked into the house in silence. He went up to his room and got changed then headed for the door. _“I’m going to the bar, don’t wait up for me”_ he threw the comment over his shoulder as he walked out the door. Hope got changed then headed to the Hospital to check on Ethan. As she approached the hospital Maya came out. Maya told her that she doesn’t think Ethan will ever be able to play again and that he will lose his scholarships. Hope felt sorry for her, so she comforted her for a while before she headed back to the house.

Xxxxxxxx

Later that night, around 10pm, Hope was back at the house, alone. Alaric was still at the bar; Hope could only assume. She decided that she was going to have a shower, after wolfing out and running around on the football pitch she had worked up quite a sweat and was slightly muddy.

She headed up to her room and got her shower stuff ready, then trotted to the shower. As she was walking there, she scrolled through her phone and put some music on, she settled on P!nk. Hope placed her phone on the window ledge, then stepped into the shower, turning it on.

Hope was in the shower for a good 30 minutes or so before she decided to get out. She had been so distracted in there that she hasn’t heard the front door open or that fact that someone was calling out for Alaric. She jumped out of the tub, picked up her phone turned her music off then put a towel around her as she headed for the door.

She opened the door, walked out into the corridor and bumped into someone. She looked up and saw that is was Josie. She was taken aback, and her towel dropped to the floor. _“Oh shit…. Oh shit!”_ Hope flapped and her face flustered red. She quickly bent down and picked it up, wrapping it around herself, tighter this time. Josie’s eyes followed what had just happened. She sucked her bottom lip in and tightened her thighs together but released them both when Hope stood back up. _“Uh. What are you doing here?”_ Hope grumbled.

 _“What am I doing here?! What are YOU doing here? This is my mom’s house. And my dad lives here. I have every right to be here. I came to see if my dad was alright after the game… Wait. Where is my dad? You’re sleeping with him, are you?”_ Josie demanded. Her eyes shot wide and turned red in anger… or disgust. Hope couldn’t tell which.

 _“OH GOD NO! I’m not sleeping with Alaric. What is wrong with you?”_ Hope shook her head then started to head to the bedroom, but Josie stopped her. Putting her hand up against the wall, blocking her. Hope huffed. _“Are you going to let me pass? Or should I just drop my towel again?”_ Hope deadpanned. Josie swallowed hard but then dropped her hand and let Hope pass. Hope opened the door to the Twin’s room and walked in, Josie not far behind. Josie shut the door behind them.

Hope groaned and spun around. _“What now?”_ She stared straight into Josie’s eyes.

 _“You never answered my question. What are you doing here? And why are you in my room?”_ Josie questioned, staring back at Hope.

Hope side-stepped passed Josie towards the chest of drawers. She pulled the top drawer open and pulled out a red thong and put it on under her towel. Josie’s eyes followed her movements. Hope tried not to let her know that she knew. Hope tried to pull the second drawer open, but Josie immediately forced it shut. Hope tried again but Josie did the same thing. Hope smirked to herself internally. She knew that this was the drawer that housed Josie’s dirty little secret; that little purple vibrator, but she couldn’t let her know that, so she breathed out with force, partly to distract herself from her thoughts. _“Are you going to let me open the drawer? I’m still in a towel and I need some clothes.”_

 _“No. Not until you answer my question.”_ Josie responded; her voice quivered slightly.

Hope relented. _“I had been living in a motel for 2 months before Alaric found out, he told me I could stay here. I know him from school. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was here, he didn’t either, so we never told anyone. I’ve only been staying here 3 days. And no. We are not sleeping together. He’s been like a father to me and that would just be too weird… even by my standards… Satisfied now?”_ Hope pulled at the drawer again, Josie forced it shut… again. _“What now?”_ Hope eyes trained on the brunette.

Josie just stared at her blankly. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know her name. Would it be rude if she just asked her? She can’t really go around calling her Milkshake Girl, can she? She needed to do something to stop her from going in that drawer. Josie was so lost in her thoughts that she couldn’t stop herself when the Milkshake Girl pushed her up against the door using one hand, her other still gripped her towel. _“Fuck me… You’re strong.”_ Josie blurted. Her eyes went wide when she realised, she just told a complete stranger to fuck her, a flash of deep red appeared across her face.

Hope laughed as she dropped her hand from Josie’s chest and used it to finally open the drawer. She pulled out a vest top and a pair of shorts before shutting the drawer again. Josie followed her every move and breathed out a sigh of relief. _“Can you turn around please? I need to get dressed.”_ Hope asked, but Josie just stood there, frozen, staring at her. Hope winked at her then threw her hands up in the air and turned herself around, dropping the towel and vest top to the floor.

She knew full well that Josie was staring at her, watching her, so she decided to make it a show. She knew all about Josette Saltzman. And about the fact that she had a crush on Hope. And she knew that Josie knew nothing about her, other than the fact she shared a milkshake with Landon. It felt kind of … thrilling to her, and the fact that she doesn’t even know Hope’s name makes this all the more fun. A small part of Hope did feel bad about it, but she just didn’t care right now. She felt the need to … torture… someone after the day she just had. And well, Josie was the closest person to her.

So she took her time bending over to pull her shorts on, slowly dragging them up her legs, her fingers caressing them as she goes and pulled them up over her big, round, smooth ass then ran her hands across it and back down her thighs before bending back down to pick up her vest top. She gracefully pulled it over her head and placed her arms through the sleeve holes before slowly pulling it down over her ample breasts. She turned back around to Josie and finished pulling the top down her stomach then rested her hands on her hips.

When Hope looked at Josie, she saw that Josie eyes were black with lust, she had pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, biting it and that she had dug her nails into the palm of her hand, causing them to bleed slightly. Hope smiled; her eyes glistened slightly at the sight on the brunette. She kicked the towel up with her foot, caught it, folded it and placed it on the chair whilst never taking her eyes off Josie.

Hope moved towards the door; brushing passed the brunette as she pulled the handle down. Josie took a deep inhale. Hope gave her a cheeky wink as she pulled the door open, causing Josie to fall forward. She managed to catch her balance on Lizzie’s dresser. _“Fuck… who the fuck are you?”_ Josie exhaled as she turned to look at the redhead, but she had vanished from the room. Josie banged her head against the door frame and let out a sigh of release.

Hope heard what Josie had said, she didn’t respond. She just laughed as she headed downstairs. It was around 11:30pm when she made her way over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of whiskey, she poured one for Josie too. Then sat down on the sofa and switched the TV on. Hope heard the toilet flush followed by footsteps rushing down the stairs. She didn’t turn her attention away from the TV but said _“There’s a glass of whiskey in the kitchen if you want it.”_ Josie didn’t respond but she headed to the kitchen to pick up the glass then brought it into the front room and sat on the sofa opposite Hope.

 _“Does my dad know that you’re drinking his whiskey? Are you even old enough to drink it?”_ Josie questioned.

_“Yes and no.”_

_“What do you mean yes and no?”_

_“Yes, he knows I’m drinking his whiskey and no, I am not old enough to drink it.”_

_“Why are you drinking it if you aren’t old enough? And why is he letting you?”_

_“You are asking a lot of questions_.” Hope flicked through the TV channels to find something relatively interesting. She settled on a film. It seemed to be a musical of some sort. She placed the remote back on the coffee table.

_“Well you’re not giving me any straight or real answers. So, I’m going to keep asking them until you give me a few.”_

Hope laughed. _“Okay, I’ll give you twenty questions. But you can’t ask me what my name is. You’ve just asked your first two, and I’ll keep track. I have every right not to answer a question if I don’t want to, but if I don’t answer one, then you get to ask another one. Sound fair?”_ Hope swung her legs off the sofa and sat to face her. _“Oh, before we start… I think I’m going to need more whiskey.”_ Hope stood up and retrieved the bottle from the kitchen counter and placed it on the coffee table, sitting back on the sofa to face Josie.

_“Right so those two questions you’ve just asked go hand-in-hand. I’m drinking Whiskey because I’ve had a pretty stressful day and I wanted a drink, I like whiskey. And your dad tried to argue with me about drinking it, but he knew there was no point because of who my family are. Eighteen questions left.”_

_“Who are your family?”_

_“A group of Witches, Werewolves and Vampires. Seventeen left”_

_“Where are you from?”_

_“New Orleans. Sixteen.”_

_“When did you get here?”_

_“Ooo, good one. Officially? It was about 10 years ago. Unofficially? 2 months ago. Fifteen.”_

_“What did you mean by that?”_

_“I decline to answer. Fifteen.”_ Hope took a big gulp of her Whiskey and poured herself another one. She offered the same to Josie. Josie held her glass out and let Hope pour it.

_“Erm okay. Are you a supernatural?”_

_“Yes. Fourteen.”_

_“What type of supernatural are you?”_

Hope raised her eyebrow. _“I’m surprised Landon hasn’t told you. I’m a witch and a werewolf. Thirteen.”_

Josie looked confused. _“Why does Landon know what you are? How does he know?”_

_“I transformed into a wolf today to help find Raf, and then I transformed Raj back into his human form. Landon followed me; he wouldn’t leave me alone. Eleven.”_

_“How can you transform into a wolf when it’s not even a full moon?”_

_“My family is part of the Crescent pack. Ten”_ Hope nursed her drink.

_“How can you be a Witch as well?”_

_“My grandmother was **an** original witch or **the** original witch, I don’t really know I tried not to pay too much attention to that one. Nine.” _She downed her drink and poured another one.

_“Wow that’s… a lot. Erm. Why don’t you come to the Salvatore Boarding School if you’re supernatural?”_

_“Because it’s safer for everyone there if I stay away from that school. Eight.”_ Hope downed her drink again.

 _“What do you mean safer?”_ Josie finished her drink and poured her and Hope another.

_“I decline to answer. Eight.”_

_“How does my dad know who you are?”_

_“He doesn’t. Not really. He only knows what I’ve told him, but he knows my mom and dad. Seven.”_

_“Do you know who I am?”_

_“Yes. You’re Josette Saltzman. Twin to Elizabeth Saltzman. Daughter to Alaric Saltzman and Josette Laughlin. And Caroline Forbes. You are 16. And you’re part of the Gemini coven. You are passionate and extremely co-dependent. You love people so intensely that it gets you hurt and you’re pansexual. Six.”_ Hope winked at her. They down downed their drinks at the same time. This time Josie poured them another one, not sure how to process all that.

_“How do you know all that about me?”_

_“I’ve known you for the past ten years. Five.”_

_“How come I don’t know who you are?”_

_“That’s a difficult one.”_ Hope huffed out. She took a few seconds to process the question before she decided to give an honest answer. _“At one point, you did, everyone did. Four.”_ Hope’s eyes filled with sadness at that memory. She finished her drink and poured another one.

 _“Why don’t I remember you?”_ Josie’s heart twinged with sorrow. She guzzled her drink, poured another and topped Hope’s up as well.

Hope closed her eyes and took her time to gather her thoughts. It was about a minute before she opened them again. _“Because of Malivore. Three.”_

 _“What do you mean because of Malivore?”_ Josie looked completely stunned.

_“You all knew who I was three months ago, but then I decided it was in everyone’s best interest if I were to dive headfirst into the pit. I killed Landon in the process of doing it. Two.”_

_“What do you mean it was in everyone’s best interest?”_ Josie was struggling to keep her thoughts straight. She didn’t really know what to say.

 _“Because of who I am and because of my bloodline, I am the only one that can close it. Last one, make it good”_ Hope shrugged and winked. A slight smile appeared across Josie’s face.

_“Erm okay, last one. Man, that went quick. Let’s see. How are you back then, if you were meant to be the one to close it?”_

_“I think it’s because I haven’t activated my Vampire side_.” Hope finished her drink and poured herself another glass. She took her time to nurse this one.

 _“Wait, what? Your vampire side? You’re a vampire as well as a witch and a werewolf? How is that even possible? I think you have just confused me more than when we first started this.”_ Josie jumped up from the sofa and started pacing around the room. Her mind was racing.

 _“Ooo, sorry, too bad. You’ve had your twenty questions.”_ Hope laughed as her eyes followed Josie around the room. After about 5 minutes of Josie’s pacing Hope finally spoke again. _“Oh god woman sit down. You’re going to burn a hole in the floor.”_ Josie didn’t hear her; she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts, she was pacing frantically, tears rolling from her eyes.

Eventually Hope stood up and walked over to her, stopping the brunette dead in her tracks. She placed her hands on Josie’s shoulders. _“Hey Josie, calm down. Look at me. Josie… Josie look at me. It’s okay. Focus on your breathing okay? Just breathe.”_ Hope’s hand moved down to Josie’s chest, resting just above her heart. _“Here, focus here okay? You can do this.”_

Josie only took a few moments to regain her focus. Her eyes met Hope’s. She could see that the shorter girl looked a bit panicked. _“How… How did you do that? No one’s other than Lizzie has brought me down before.”_

 _“I know you Josette. I’ve seen you like this before. You and Lizzie are similar in that respect. Obviously, Lizzie’s are full on explosions. Yours are more subtle. When you get focused on something you can’t solve, you spin.”_ Hope pulled her into a hug. _“It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”_ They stood like this for a few minutes, until Josie’s breathing and her heartbeat returned to normal, it was only then that Hope pulled away. _“Are you okay?”_ Hope asked.

 _“Yeah I’m fine now. Thank you. I need a drink.”_ Josie gave out a wet laugh. _“Oh god, I don’t even know who you are, and I’ve just had a meltdown in front of you.”_ Josie crossed the room and sat down on the sofa, picked up her whiskey and downed it, then poured herself another one. She topped Hope’s glass up as well. Hope sat down on the sofa and nursed her drink. She handed the remote to Josie, indicating for her to put something on. The brunette settled on another film, a romcom this time. Josie didn’t pay much attention to it and Hope was too busy watching her to make sure she was okay.

Time escaped them, they sat in relative silence occasionally asking the other if they wanted another drink or Josie making a comment on the film. Hope felt at peace. She was content. Just as the film was about to finish Alaric stumbled through the door, clearly drunk. _“Fuck, Hope you’re still awake? It’s… erm… 3 in the morning, go to bed already.”_ Hope looked over to Josie, Alaric hasn’t spotted her yet.

 _“Alaric, you’re drunk, I think it’s you that needs to go to bed.”_ Hope responded.

 _“Oh shit, what are you doing here? I’m not drunk… (hiccup)… I promise. Josie… I’m sorry.”_ Alaric looked like a drunken deer caught in headlights. Hope jumped up from the sofa, motioned to Josie to stay where she is and ran over to Alaric. _“Let’s get you up to bed mister… It’s not every day you get to tell your teacher to go to bed.”_ Hope laughed and practically side-carried him up the stairs. Hope lay Alaric on the bed and covered him up. _“Tell… Tell Josie I’m sorry, would you? Please?”_ Hope waved him off. _“You can tell her yourself when you sober up. Goodnight Alaric.”_ Hope walked out the room and joined Josie back downstairs.

 _“I’m so sorry Josie. You didn’t need to see that. He wanted to apologise to you as well, I told him to wait until he’s sobered up to do that. I know it’s not the first time you’ve seen him like that and it probably won’t be the last. But you shouldn’t have to deal with it.”_ Hope walked over to Josie and gave her a hug. _“We should probably go to bed soon as well. It has been a long night.”_ Josie’s eyes went wide at Hope’s statement. Hope slapped her, playfully. _“Get those thoughts out of your head missy.”_

 _“What do you mean? I have no thoughts in my head.”_ Josie laughed. She finished her drink and headed upstairs to the bedroom. Hope locked the front door, switched off the lights and followed her. Josie was in the bedroom getting changed when Hope arrived. She had left the door open and was almost naked, wearing only her bra and thong, when Hope walked in. _“Woah, give a girl a warning, would you?”_ Hope laughed, covering her eyes with her hands as she walked in the room and kicked the door closed behind her, standing near the door.

Hope peaked through her fingers and secretly watched Josie getting changed. Her breathing became heavier as she watched. Josie knew she was watching, so she decided to give Hope the same treatment that she had given her earlier, except this time, she was facing Hope as she did it. She took her time getting dressed into her nightwear. Josie removed her bra with one hand, and it flung open, she shuffled it off her arms and it fell on the floor. Josie ran her hands across her breasts, pinching her nipples slightly before she picked up her vest top and pulled it over her head.

Hope gave in and eventually dropped her hands from her eyes and just simply watched Josie, she loved to watch. _“Knew you wouldn’t last long.”_ Josie laughed. Josie picked up her shorts from the bed and gracefully pulled them up. She winked at Hope. _“Where do you normally sleep?”_ Josie asked.

Hope cleared her throat. _“Erm.. I’ve actually been sleeping in your bed. But you can have it back.”_

 _“Well I was going to say we could share it, but if you’d rather sleep alone then you’re more than welcome to have Lizzie’s bed. At least for tonight.”_ Josie laughed.

Hope watched Josie get into bed then switched the light off and jumped into Lizzie’s bed. _“Goodnight Josie.”_

_“Goodnight… Hope. That’s a beautiful name, by the way. Hope. It definitely suits you.”_


	5. Maybe I'll Just Watch... For a While

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is my favourite one yet. It's a bit longer than usual. But I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading :D

Chapter 5- Maybe I’ll Just Watch… For a While.

Hope couldn’t settle. She tossed and turned, but eventually she got up and went to the bathroom. She used the toilet then washed her face. She needed to pull herself together. Yes, Josie had turned her on. Big time. But could she blame her? No. Not after what she did to her earlier in the night. Josie had every right for payback. And the alcohol didn’t help matter much either. Hope stared at herself in the mirror. _“Pull yourself together Mikaelson.”_ She muttered. She shook her head, stood up straight and headed back into the bedroom. As she started to open the door, she heard Josie fall into bed. _“Oh shit.”_ Josie giggled.

Hope smiled to herself as she walked through the door, she wanted to ask Josie about it, but she didn’t think she could hold a conversation with her, not without the urge to pounce on her. So, Hope just pretended that she didn’t hear it. Hope’s eyes scanned the room quickly, she noticed that the second drawer of the dresser was slightly ajar. Hope knew what Josie had done; she had taken the vibrator out. Her eyes grew wide at the thought, her breathing started to become heavy again. She forced her eyes shut and tried to push it out of her mind before she somewhat shakily climbed into Lizzie’s bed. She got settled then lay there for about 20 minutes, not moving.

It wasn’t long after that, that she heard the light buzz coming from the vibrator. Hope kept her eyes closed and tried to focus on her breathing. Was Josie really about to use the vibrator whilst Hope was in the next bed? Hope arousal started to build at the thought. She tried not to think about it, but the more she tried to push it out of her mind, the more force it pushed back with. She **needed** to see what was happening.

When Hope eventually opened her eyes, Josie was lying on top of the mattress; she had moved the quilt off herself and was moving the vibrator down her body towards her centre. She lifted the top band of her shorts up and continued to move the toy downwards, until it partially disappeared from view. The brunette tried to moan quietly as she felt the toy reach her little bundle of nerves. She applied pressure as she started to move it up and down her full length.

Hope watched her so intensely that her eyes started to flash yellow. She gripped the sheets so tight her knuckles turned white. She tried to keep her breathing even and steady as she watched the brunette attack herself with the toy. All Hope could manage to do was breathe out a little _“fuck”_.

Josie was too enthralled with herself that she hasn’t hear Hope speak. Luckily for Hope. Josie picked up her legs and bent her knees. She kept one hand on the vibrator and used her other to pull her shorts and thong down to her ankles, letting her legs fall apart as she pushed the toy deep inside her. _“Ohhh god.”_ The brunette pushed and pulled the toy inside herself in a rapid sequence, she could feel her arousal building up. She kept thrusting the vibrator inside herself, there were a few times where she had been so lost in the motions that it came all the way out, but she plunged it back into herself without even looking. When this happened, she let out a louder moan than her usual ones as the full 6 inches reached inside her and dragged back out, scraping along her sweet, sensitive g-spot. Her moans started becoming more vocal as she was approaching her peak.

It wasn’t long before Josie’s arousal was at its peak. Her moans more prominent now as was her orgasm. As she thrusted the toy in for the last time, her legs snapped shut trapping her hand and the vibrator in place, it was still vibrating as she let out a _“Oooohhhh Godddddd… Hope!... Fuckkkk meee… Hope... Uggghhhh”_ Her legs started to shake but they finally released her hand from between them. She turned off the toy, pulled it out and threw it on the floor, it landed with a dull thud. She lay there for a few minutes as she rode out the last of her orgasm waves, before she started to move off the bed, picking up the toy and taking it to the bathroom to clean it.

As Hope watched everything that Josie was doing, her own centre started becoming wet. She needed her own release, but Josie was using the vibrator, so she had to settle on using her hand. She was slightly disappointed by this, but not enough to stop her from doing it. She worked her fingers down into her shorts, she pressed her fingers against her slit, parting the lips and using her middle finger to tease her little bundle of nerves. Her finger grazed over the little nub and it felt like electricity surging through her body. She rubbed it, flicked it and teased it. Every motion she took reverberated through her. Her pleasure building. The first time she saw the toy fall out of Josie and she thrusted it back inside her without even looking, Hope almost came right then. But she forced herself to keep going. She can’t look weak now, even though she’s always been weak whenever she’s in the vicinity of Josie.

After watching the brunette for a few more minutes, Hope moved her hand down to her opening and she could feel the thick, full wetness that had gathered. She slipped 2 fingers inside herself. She bent her fingers and dragged them along the soft, spongy wall, repeating the motion, trying to match her speed with that of Josie but it was no use. Josie’s speed was just too great for Hope to keep up with, even though she did give it an extremely good try. Hope’s orgasm came mere seconds after Josie’s did. She stifled her moans in the pillow as she rode out the waves.

When she saw Josie starting to sit up, she stilled her own body against the mattress, her hand still inside herself. When Josie left the room, Hope finally freed her hand and brought it up to her mouth. Taking her time to slowly suck the juices from her fingers. She liked the way she tastes but there was something inside her that wanted to find out just how sweet Josie tasted. Hope moaned at the thought and dropped her hand to her side. She shuffled herself over in the bed, escaping the wet patch she had just left and forced herself to go to sleep. There was nothing else she could do about it tonight.

When Josie came back into the room, she quickly glanced over at Hope, thankful that she hadn’t woken the redhead up, but also a bit disappointed by that fact as well. She quietly opened the drawer and placed the vibrator back in its rightful place and got into bed again. She felt more relaxed now, but she knew she had a hard day ahead of her. She settled back onto the bed and covered herself up, she was asleep within minutes.

It was around 9:30am when Hope woke up disoriented, her head felt heavy and her vision was blurry. _“I shouldn’t have drunk so much”_ She muttered to herself as she rubbed the sides of her temple. She hopped off the bed and headed for the shower. She jumped in and out of the shower in no time. She walked back to the bedroom and got dressed. She decided that she was going to go for a run. She was in a daze and she carried on with her own little routine, she gathered clean clothes and sat down on Josie’s bed. She started getting herself dressed when the moving startled her. _“oh shit.”_ She whispered as she leapt from the bed and rushed over to the other side of the room. Hope had completely forgotten that Josie actually in the bed. _“I definitely drank too much last night.”_ She grumbled as shook her head and then proceeded to get dressed. She managed to slip out of the room without waking the sleeping girl.

She quietly slipped out of the house and started running. She didn’t really like running in human form, it took too much energy out of her. She definitely preferred her wolf form. It was freeing to her, just like her mom told her that it would be. Today she missed her more than usual. She just wanted to talk to her. Hope pushed the thoughts out of her head and forced herself onwards. Her feet hitting the pavement as she charged forward, trying to forget everything that had happened last night. Hope was out of breath when she arrived back at the house. She had been gone for almost two hours.

She headed back up to the bedroom and quietly sneaked in, trying not to disturb the still sleeping girl as she got some clean clothes from the dresser. She settled on a pair of black jeans and a purple t-shirt. She gathered the clothes and headed to the bathroom for another quick shower, this time she got changed in there then headed downstairs. She settled on the sofa with a cup of coffee and watched a couple of videos on her phone.

***

Hope was settled on the sofa drinking her 3rd cup of coffee of the day, when she heard movement coming from upstairs. It was around 3pm when Josie came downstairs. She had really bad bed hair and she looked a mess, she had sleep lines all over her. Hope smiled at her. _“You look like you slept well.”_ Hope laughed.

_“Eh? What? Erm, yeah… I did, thanks. What time is it anyways?”_ Josie rubbed her eyes and very ungracefully stretched as she made her way into the kitchen to make herself a coffee.

_“it’s… 3:07 in the afternoon.”_ Hope stated as she checked her phone, lifting it up to show her, even though she knew that Josie couldn’t see it from the other side of the room.

_“Ugghh. How long have you been up for? Is my dad up yet?”_ Josie asked as she made her way over to the other sofa.

_“I don’t think he is. I’ve been up since 9:30 and I haven’t seen him yet.”_ Hope shrugged as she watched the brunette get settled.

Josie rolled her eyes. _“I’ll go check on him after I’ve had a shower. What have you been doing up since 9:30 anyways?”_

_“Well I had something to eat and I’ve been for a run. I’ve just been watching videos since I got back.”_ Hope stated.

_“Oh.”_ Josie simply replied before turning her attention to the TV and nursing her coffee. It wasn’t long before she finished her drink and stood up. _“I’m going to go and have a shower.”_

_“Erm, thank you for that … lovely piece of information.”_ Hope laughed as she waved her off.

_“My pleasure.”_ Josie winked as she quickly turned on her heels and ventured upstairs. Hope’s mouth dropped open slightly as she watched Josie flow out the room.

_“I already know about some of them.”_ Hope muttered under her breath, or so she thought.

_“What?”_ Josie snapped her head round as she started advancing up the stairs.

_OH FUCK._ Hope thought. _“What? I didn’t say anything.”_ Hope shrugged as she tried to bury her head in the sofa to hide the fact that her face had just flushed a scarlet shade of embarrassment.

Josie contemplated turning around and forcing a conversation out of Hope, but she decided against it, partly because she didn’t have the strength but also because she couldn’t quite believe what she had heard. Did Hope really just say that she knew some of her pleasures? Had Hope found her vibrator? Or even worse, was Hope awake last night when she used it? Josie’s thoughts started to spiral. She forced herself upstairs and into the shower. Whilst she was in the shower, her thoughts started to spin out again but in a way that oddly turned her on. If Hope had found her vibrator, why didn’t she say anything? If the roles were reversed, Josie would definitely been vocal about it. Her eyes grew wide and turned black as she just remembered SHE MOANED HOPE’S NAME LAST NIGHT. _“Oh god, Josie you are such an idiot.”_ She hit her head against the wall a few times before she pulled herself together enough to finish off her shower. What was that girl doing to her? She had been a hot mess since she saw her for the first time yesterday. Josie continued muttering to herself as she got out the shower, she wrapped a towel around herself and advanced to her bedroom.

Josie managed to get changed without incident. She pulled on a black skirt and yellow jumper. She finished changing then headed to Alaric’s room. She knocked on the door before opening it. Alaric was passed out on the bed. She walked over to him and shook him. _“Dad… Dad… Dad, wake up!”_ Josie said. He batted her hand away. She knows what he’s like when he’s had too much to drink, she knows that he wouldn’t wake up without some… assistance. She quickly turned on her heels and headed back to the bathroom, she turned on the cold tap and let it run for a minute before she picked up a pint size glass from the window ledge. She filled it up and took it back into Alaric’s room, within seconds of entering the room, she emptied the content over Alaric’s face. He shot up in bed.

_“WHAT THE FU….”_ He started to shout before he realised that it was his daughter standing in front of him with an empty glass. He collapsed back on the bed.

_“Get up and have a shower, you reek of alcohol. It’s almost 4pm!”_ Josie was pissed off. She hated seeing him like this, but he just wouldn’t do anything about it. She had been picking up his alcohol-related problems for years, so she was used to it, even though it saddened her heart every time she had to ‘ _fix him.’_

_“Go away.”_ He muttered as he lay there with his head on a wet pillow.

_“No. I’m not leaving until you’re in the bathroom.”_ Josie announced.

After about 5 minutes, Alaric finally relented. He grumbled as he shoved himself off the bed and headed towards his ensuite.

_“I’ll be downstairs, when you finally decide to grace us with your presence.”_ Josie called after him.

About 20 minutes later Alaric came downstairs and joined the girls. He was clearly hungover. He grumbly greeted the girls as he made his way to the kitchen for a strong cup of coffee. He padded around the kitchen before he came to rest on the sofa next to Josie. He placed his cup on the table and pulled Josie into a hug. _“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you were coming home. I wouldn’t have gone out drinking if I had known. I only went out to blow off steam after getting into that fight with Vardermus. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but he just really pissed me off. I just don’t want him to abuse the school or the students. There’s something about him that just… doesn’t seem right.”_ He kissed the top of Josie’s head and rubbed her arm.

Josie breathed out. _“I understand, but you really need to keep your drinking under control. It makes you act like an arsehole. And I don’t want you to spin out again. I have enough of that with Lizzie.”_ She released herself from his grip. _“can we go for something to eat? I’m starving.”_ She laughed.

_“Erm yeah, okay. Where do you want to go?”_ Alaric shrugged.

_“Let’s just go to the Grill. It’s quick and easy and it’s on the way back to school.”_ Josie replied.

Alaric simply nodded then got up from the sofa and headed towards the door, Josie quickly followed suit. Hope was still sat on the sofa, engrossed in her phone and hadn’t noticed they had gotten up.

_“Are you coming Hope? … Hope!”_ Josie asked, she picked up one of Alaric’s slippers and threw it at Hope, hitting her on the shoulder, just centimetres away from her face.

_“OWW! What was that for?”_ Hope grimaced while she rubbed her arm.

_“I had to get your attention somehow! You weren’t listening to me. Now. Are you coming or not?”_ Josie had a slight mischievous tone in her voice as she winked at Hope.

_“I… erm…”_ Hope swallowed. _“where are we going?”_

_“Just to the Grill for some food. Do you want to come or not?”_ Josie winked again, if she kept it up Hope might think that she has some sort of eye problem.

_“Yes, I erm… Yes, I’ll join you.”_ Hope’s eyes flushed with lust for a few seconds before she shook her head and got up from the sofa, joining Alaric and Josie at the door. She quickly slapped Josie’s arm with the slipper before she dropped it back into its rightful place. Josie playfully punched her, so Hope did the same, the repeated this a few times before Alaric finally stepped in.

_“You two need to stop acting like children.”_ He rubbed the side of his temples as he exited the house.

_“She started it!”_ Hope exclaimed as she stuck her tongue out at the brunette. Josie punched her again, slightly harder this time, causing Hope to ever so slightly fall off balance. It took all of Hope’s strength not to tackle this girl to the floor in a playful, kinky way. Because in all fairness, if Alaric wasn’t there as a ‘buffer’ then Josie would have definitely been on the floor. But sadly for Hope she had to show a lot of self-restraint.

They all climbed into the car without further incident from Josie or Hope. Josie rode shotgun next to her dad and Hope sat in the back. She was glad for the small amount of space between her and the brunette. Hope rested her eyes and listened along to the radio as they made their way to the Grill.

Alaric, Hope and Josie arrived at the Grill around 6pm, it was slightly busier than it usually is for a Sunday, but they managed to find a table. Alaric sat on one side and the girls sat on the other. They all engaged in pleasant conversation. Alaric asking Josie about how school is going, asking about Lizzie and how all the other students are. He seemed to really miss them all, not that he would admit it to them. They ordered their meals. Josie and Hope both had a burger and fries with a milkshake each and Alaric had steak and chips with a coke.

As they patiently waited for their respective meals, Josie absentmindedly swung her legs from side to side. Every so often they bumped against Hope’s, causing Hope to tense up, secretly she loved the contact, but she had to put on a brave face in front of Alaric. Eventually Hope gave in and pressed her hand onto one of Josie’s knees to still her moving legs.

Josie jolted upright, her elbows fell off the table and her legs thrusted back under the seat, she choked on thin air because of the unfamiliar/familiar contact she felt on her bare knees. Josie managed to steady her hands on the table before her mouth dropped open slightly. She swallowed and forced it closed. She cleared her throat before turning to face Hope, who’s hand is still on her knee. _“What are you doing?”_ Her voice so quiet it was barely a whisper, her eyes wide… and black. Hope just side smirked at her as she kept her attention on Alaric. Josie tried not to flinch as Hope slowly started drawing patterns on her knee. It wasn’t until the redhead deliberately started to inch her hand into Josie’s thigh that forced her to shift in the seat, her knee’s drifted apart slightly, eagerly awaiting the gently soft touch on her thighs, the arousal was slowly starting to build inside her.

Hope’s hand had only made its way a quarter of the way up Josie’s leg before they got interrupted, their food had arrived. Hope quickly but reluctantly released itself as she accepted her plate with a smile, thanking the waiter. Josie groaned at the loss of contact; she closed her eyes for a few seconds to allow them to return to their natural state. When she opened them again, the waiter had arrived with her food. She thanked him and took the plate.

They managed to eat their respective meals without incident. Once they had finished Josie excused herself and headed to the bathroom. She didn’t want to admit it but the contact from Hope had made her wet and she needed to freshen up. Josie shuffled her way into the small bathroom. It only had 2 stalls and a sink. Josie entered one of the stalls, sat down on the toilet. She heavily breathed out. It felt like she could finally breathe again. She rested her head in her hands and tried to control her thoughts. _“What the fuck just happened…”_ She muttered to herself.

Hope waited for about a minute before she did the same.

Hope walked in and saw that one stall was vacant, the other was occupied. She gently knocked on the occupied door. _“erm, it’s in use.”_ The familiar voice of Josie rang from the other side. Hope grinned like a madman. She shuffled quietly over to the main door and locked it before returning to the side of the busy stall. It wasn’t long before Josie departed from it.

Josie was fixing her skirt as she walked out the stall and at first didn’t notice Hope leaning up against the stall staring at her through the mirror. When Josie finally did notice Hope she was startled. _“Jeez, why do you always have to creep behind doors?”_ She grabbed her heart before she continued to wash her hands, staring at Hope through the mirror as she did.

_“I don’t creep behind doors, you do that. But hey, at least I’m wearing clothes this time.”_ Hope winked.

_“Fuck me…”_ Josie’s mouth dropped open again. She shook her head and dried her hands before she turned to face Hope. _“Okay, you need to stop doing that.”_ She smoothed her skirt down.

_“You know that’s now twice you’ve said that to me.”_ Hope laughed. _“And stop doing what… exactly?”_ Hope started to close the gap between them.

_“Just, erm… Just stop, flirting… with me. I, erm… I have a boyfriend.”_ Josie breathed out; her voice was very shaky and she could feel her heart beating in her throat.

_“Oh really? Because it didn’t seem like that last night when you were moaning my name… Or about 20 minutes ago at the table…”_ Hope trailed off as she came face to face with Josie, mere centimetres away from full body contact.

Josie visibly gulped and her eyes shot wide and turned black. Her knee’s felt like they were about to collapse, so she had to steady herself on the sink. _“I… erm… That was… erm…”_ Josie couldn’t take this anymore; she couldn’t keep denying herself of the things she wants just because it pleases other people. She needed to take a stand, she needed to be strong and she needed Hope. She **wanted** Hope.

She grabbed hold of Hope’s arms and pushed her up against the wall, closing the pretty non-existent space between them. Josie targeted Hope’s lips in a fiery passion, not only did Hope allow her, she welcomed her. Their kiss was strong, passionate and slightly frantic. The franticness was all Josie, she was desperate. That first touch Hope had placed on her knee sparked something inside her, like a burning desire she didn’t know that was missing.

Josie rolled her tongue over Hope’s lips parting them slightly before thrusting her tongue inside the redhead’s mouth. The soft, warm, wetness that greeted her caused a moan to slip out. She didn’t really understand why she was having this reaction to Hope, but right now she really didn’t care. She wanted to deep their embrace, she **needed** too. Her hands dropped from Hope’s arms and moved down to the top of the Tribrid’s trousers, looping her fingers through the belt loops on either side of her waist, pulling the redhead closer to her whilst trying to deepen the hold on her mouth.

But Hope broke their kiss by pushing her away, gently. Josie’s eyes pleaded with her, but all Hope did was laugh, she put one of her hands on the brunette’s face and looked into her eyes. _“I will never stop… Flirting with you… Not now. Especially not after you’ve just shown me your true colours.”_ Hope pattered the brunette’s face slightly before she turned and headed to the door, only turning back to say _“Oh, and you might want to sort your lipstick out… It looks like its smudged.”_ Hope used her thumb to wipe away the remnants of Josie from her lips before she placed the thumb in her mouth sucking it gently as she unlocked the door. She winked at the brunette as she walked out and headed back to their table.

Josie was frozen in place as she watched Hope walk out the room, when the door closed behind Hope, she finally gave in and let herself collapse. _“Fucckkk…”_ She said as she shuffled herself up to the wall and just sat there for a few minutes. Her thoughts raced. Her fingers traced across her lips, the thought of Hope’s lips ran back into her mind as her head fell back, hitting the wall slightly. Josie finally forced herself up and walked over to the mirror. _“Oh, well at least it’s not too bad.”_ Josie huffed as she pulled a paper towel from the dispenser and ran it under the tap, before bringing it to her lips so that she could wipe away the smeared lipstick marks from around her mouth. She stared at herself in the mirror again. _“Pull yourself together.”_ She shook her head and finally headed back to join Hope and Alaric.

Alaric and Hope were in a deep conversation about Hope going back to the Salvatore Boarding School and didn’t notice when Josie sat down. Hope was being extremely stubborn, adamant that she wasn’t going back not whilst everyone had still forgotten her. She said that it just makes her feel worse and that she needed the distance from that place. Josie just sat there and listened; grateful that she didn’t have to engage in conversation, she honestly didn’t think she could manage it. Alaric eventually relented because Hope was just being… well… Hope. He shook his head then waved the waiter over, he paid the bill and stood up from the table. _“Right, I’m going to drop Josie back to school. Hope what do you want to do? Are you coming with or are you just going to go back to the house?”_

_“Erm, I will join you. I don’t have anything else to do.”_ Hope shrugged.

The three of them headed to the car in relative silence, each claiming their rightful seats. The drive to the school was uneventful. When Alaric pulled up to the gates, he turned the engine off and faced Josie. _“Stay safe okay? I love you.”_

_“I know. And I will do. Bye dad.”_ Josie replied giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before she got out the car.

_“Bye Josie!”_ Hope playfully sang and winked at the brunette.

Josie just rolled her eyes as she walked away. She stopped momentarily then quickly turned on her heals and skipped back over to the car. She knocked on Hope’s window.

_“Yes. May I help you?”_ Hope said with a cheeky grin, turning to face the brunette as she rolled down the window.

_“Erm… Can I… Can I get your number?”_ Josie nervously asked, rolling her phone through her fingers.

Hope thought about it for a minute. _“Sure.”_ Hope gave Josie her number and Josie quickly texted her. Hope’s phone vibrated in her pocket, she pulled it out and read the notification bar.

**Josie:** Hey! ;) x

_“Got it, thanks.”_ Hope winked.

Josie grinned and quickly turned on her heels. _“Bye dad!”_ Josie called as she made her way back to the school gates.

Alaric and Hope sat in the car as they both watched Josie walk up the school drive. Alaric was doing it to make sure Josie got into the school safe. And Hope, well, Hope just wanted to watch the brunette’s small perfect ass shimmy as she walked away. Hope was transfixed. She didn’t hear Alaric start the car. It wasn’t until the car started reversing that Hope snapped out of her gaze. She smiled and shook her head. Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket, she unlocked her phone and clicked on the message. She was going to save Josie’s number to her phone until she remembered she already had it saved from before Malivore and the fact that she had known Josie for years, so of course she had Josie’s number.

The drive back to the house was a quiet one. Hope and Alaric didn’t talk, they just listened to the sounds of the roads as he drove. Hope didn’t want to have a conversation either, she was too lost in her thoughts. She was reliving the kiss she had with Josie. She was glad that Josie had kissed her first. She didn’t she could cope if it was the other way around. At least this way she could have control of the situation, she could make the torment last longer. She needed a bit of fun in her life.


	6. What Have You Done to Me?

Chapter 6- What Have You Done To Me?

Josie arrived back at the school at 9pm. She headed straight for her room. When she opened the door, Lizzie’s head shot up. _“Oh good! You’re home! Where have you been?”_ She attempted to move off the bed, but Josie just waved at her basically telling her to stop and she moved over to join Lizzie on the bed.

_“I’ve been to see Dad. After yesterday, I just wanted to check up in him. He seemed really sad. But he wasn’t there when I arrived and…”_ Josie debated telling Lizzie about Hope but then decided against it, for now at least. _“So, I waited for him. He ended up coming home drunk at 3am. I just… I just don’t know what to do with him anymore.”_ Josie shook her head as Lizzie pulled her into a hug. Lizzie knew not to push the subject. Even though she hated the fact that Alaric drank too much, she knew that Josie was more affected by it than she was, because at the end of the day Lizzie is Caroline’s daughter and Josie cared too much about too many people and it always got hurt. They just sat there in silence for a good thirty minutes before Josie moved.

Josie shuffled off the bed and swiftly moved over to her dresser. She gathered a clean towel, some clean pyjamas and her wash stuff. _“I’m going for a shower.”_ She announced to Lizzie then headed out the door.

_“Are you sure you’re okay?”_ Lizzie asked, her voice sad and it sounded like she actually… cared.

_“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a shower.”_ Josie laughed, but didn’t admit that this is her second shower of the day. Josie half skipped and half shuffled her way to the bathroom. Her mind was still racing from the kiss she shared with Hope. Why did she do it? Why did she kiss a complete stranger? She had never done that before, but there was something about Hope that felt… familiar, safe and loving mixed with… heartache and loneliness. She pushed the bad feelings out of the way and focused on the positive ones: the familiarity, the safety and the love. Josie smiled and her heart grew warmer.

It wasn’t long before Josie arrived at the shower block. She pushed the door open with her foot and walked round to her favourite shower, it stood alone in the far left corner and it was the only one with an actual door and a lock, (the rest of the showers were stall-like, with flimsy curtains) she shuffled in and locked it behind her. It was a little room but there was space for both sets of her clothes and her wash things. There was also a small wooden seat that had people’s initials carved into it. She looked down at it, momentarily forgetting about the JS & PP inside a heart that was carved in the middle of the seat until she saw it again. It made her heart twinge slightly.

Normally Josie is very absentminded when it comes to taking a shower, she just goes through the motions and doesn’t really think things through. But today, especially after the day she’s just had, Josie just wanted to take her time. She got undressed, switched the shower on and just sat on the seat in all her naked glory, finally glad that she could take off her hot, sticky, messy underwear. She was proud of her body, most of the time, it was the one thing that was completely hers and she didn’t have to share it with anyone, unless she wanted to. Josie spent a good few minutes thinking about nothing, about everything and about… Hope. Just the thought of Hope’s name makes her moan.

Josie released her head and it fell back, hitting the wall, her legs parted slightly. Her left hand rested on her knee and her right hand on her stomach. Her body reverberated the sensations she had felt earlier that evening when Hope touched her knee. Her hand mimicked Hope’s, except this time her own hand climbed higher up her thigh. Her fingers were light as they caressed her leg, her thigh becoming more sensitive the further up she travelled. It only took Josie’s hand thirty seconds to reach her core, it disappointed her slightly.

Her fingers slowly caressed her folds. She was already wet, well in all fairness she hadn’t been dry for most of the day. Josie’s fingers found their way into her folds and onto her little bundle of nerves. She used her first two fingers to tease herself. She lowered her fingers down to her entrance, amassed some of her wetness and brought it back up to her nub. She massaged herself, flicking and pulling at her already sensitive nerves.

Josie drove her hips forward and widened her legs. Her fingers slipped down to her entrance and found their way inside. Josie bit her lip to stifle a moan at the sensation. Images of Hope’s outline and curves flashed across her mind, they felt so real that Josie just wanted to reach out and touch her. She replied the images of Hope getting dressed over and over again in her mind. The way she bent down to pull her shorts up over her amazingly perfect round ass. The way she pulled her vest over her head and down her body. The way her hair flowed as she spun round to face Josie. The way her breasts bounced when she walks and doesn’t wear a bra. Her thoughts altered and moved onto the kiss. The need and hunger she felt for Hope and she pushed her up against the wall and the way she used her fingers to pull Hope closer. She loved feeling of Hope’s body pressed up against her. Josie moaned as she recalled the experience.

Josie’s fingers danced inside of herself. She crooked her fingers as she dragged them out. She forced them in and out slowly to start off with before she started to pick up speed. Josie shifted her right knee and brought it to rest on the seat, to give herself more leverage as she forced her fingers deep inside her. She could feel herself getting close. Josie moved her right hand from her stomach and trailed her fingers up to her chest. As soon as her fingers grazed her nipples, the brunette’s body betrayed her. She came thick and fast. She slumped forwards, losing her balance on the seat and fell to the floor with her left hand still inside her. Josie convulsed slightly on the floor as she rode out her orgasm. She breathed heavily as her forehead rested against the cold hard tiles. Josie was grateful that the floor was cold as her body felt like it was running a sweat.

Josie reached for her phone with her right hand, she unlocked it and opened the messaging app. She clicked on Hope’s name and typed out a message, sent it then threw her phone on the seat. She groaned as she removed her fingers from inside her and forced herself up to sitting. The brunette sat there for a few minutes before she had the strength in her legs to stand up. She wiped her hand down her leg before she finally got in the shower. _“Thank god that this school has a magically enchanted hot water system.”_ Josie muttered as she stepped under the hot water.

Josie spent about 20 minutes in the shower, effectively trying to scrub every reminder of the day from her body. She started to feel bad, thoughts of Landon started to fill her mind. _Oh shit. Landon. what have I done? I’m such an ass. I need to tell him._ Josie groaned as she placed her head against the wall. She needed to do something, so she planned to find Landon after she was finished in the shower.

The brunette finished her shower and got dressed. She took her time, she didn’t want to face Landon, but she knew she had to. She had to admit what she had done. As she walked out of the shower block, she headed to find him. It was hard to find him though; he was sat in the Library with Raf. She took a deep breath and walked over to them. _“Hey guys, is it okay if I can talk to Landon for a minute please?”_ Josie looked at Raf with sad eyes. Raf nodded and moved to the other side of the room. Josie sat down next to Landon.

_“Hey beautiful.”_ Landon said as he moved in to kiss her, but she turned her head and he ended up kissing her cheek. Josie gave him a sad smile.

_“Hey… Look I don’t know how to say this so I’m just going to be honest with you.”_ Josie fiddled with her sleeves, trying not to make eye contact with him. _“I kissed someone today and I don’t know what it means but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them all day.”_ Josie had tears in her eyes.

_“Wait… You what? What do you mean? Is that why you disappeared after the game? Where did you go?”_ Landon was shocked. He was in such disbelief. He thought he could trust Josie.

_“I went to see my dad. After everything that happened after the game and my dad punching Professor Vardermus, I just wanted to check that he was okay, so I went home. But he wasn’t there…”_ She debated whether or not she was going to tell him the whole truth, but she decided against it. She shook her head. _“So I waited for him but he didn’t get home til 3am, so I just went to bed… Anyways, one of his students came round to see him this morning but he was still in bed so I let them in for a while… And we got talking. My dad finally got up this afternoon and he took us out for dinner and well… one thing let to another… and I kissed them. I’m so so so sorry Landon.”_ Josie was full on crying now.

Landon sat back in his chair. He needed time to process everything. He looked over to Raf. Raf started to stand up but Landon waved him down. After a couple of minutes, he finally looked at Josie. He took a deep breath. _“Well, did it mean anything? The kiss I mean. Because if it didn’t mean anything then I can … learn to forgive you.”_ He placed his hands on the table in front of him.

_“Honestly… I don’t know what it means… or meant… All I know is that… there is something about… her… that I can’t get out of my head and it’s not fair on you. If I’m having feelings about someone else when I’m with you then it’s wrong of me to carry on this… relationship, we have. I’m sorry.”_ Josie has tears streaming down her face as she stands up. She wipes her face as she gathers her stuff and heads back to her bedroom.

It was almost 11pm when Josie entered her room. Lizzie was still sat using her laptop. Lizzie looked at Josie and saw that she was crying. Josie dropped her stuff on the floor and crawled into her own bed. Lizzie rushed to her side and pulled her into a hug.

_“Jose, what happened? Why are you crying?”_ Lizzie stroked the brunette’s hair. She didn’t want to push her twin, but she knew she wouldn’t talk if she didn’t. _“Come on sis, talk to me.”_

_“Me and Landon broke up.”_ Josie sobbed.

Lizzie tensed up. _“WHAT!?! I’M GOING TO FIND HIM AND I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!”_

_“It’s not his fault. I broke up with him.”_

_“Wait, what? Why? I thought you really liked him.”_ Lizzie had a confused look on her face.

_“Something happened when I was at Dad’s. I met someone else… and… and I kissed her. And now I can’t stop thinking about her.”_ Josie felt her phone vibrate against her thigh, she pulled it out and see there was a message from Hope.

***

Hope was sat on the sofa opposite Alaric when her phone buzzed. She picked it up and read the message.

**Josie:** _What have you done to me? x_

Hope laughed at the text. She debated replying but decided against it, at least for now. She wanted to make her wait. So, she placed her phone back in her pocket and carried on watching TV. Alaric made little attempt to find out what had made the girl laugh, he just grunted.

Around 11pm Hope decided to head up to the bedroom. She pulled her laptop out of her suitcase and threw it on Josie’s bed. Hope got changed into her pyjamas and got settled into the bed. She breathed in the intoxicating smells that Josie had left behind, causing her to sink deeper into the mattress. Hope turned her laptop on and brought up Netflix, she settled on watching a movie. As it started playing Hope decided it was probably time to message Josie back. She picked up her phone and re-read the message. Hope smiled. She typed out a quick message and sent it. The Tribrid placed her phone down next to her and continued to watch her film.

***

Josie opened her message app and read the message through tear-soaked eyes.

**Hope:** _I have absolutely no idea what you mean ;) x_

Josie let out a wet laugh as Lizzie grabbed the phone to see what made her twin laugh.

_“Who’s Hope? Is that the girl you kissed? What happened between you two? What makes her so special that made you want to cheat on Landon?”_ Lizzie sounded pissed; she just shook her head as she handed the phone back.

Josie wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. _“Yes, Hope is the girl I kissed. She’s different… There’s just something about her that I can’t quite figure out. She’s definitely mysterious. I want to get to know her.”_ Josie shrugged. She passed her phone through her hands a few times before she got the courage to reply to Hope.

**Josie:** _You have turned me into a hot mess. What is wrong with you? x_

Hope replied back quickly.

**Hope:** _Oh honey, you were already a hot mess. ;) And well… there’s a lot of things wrong with me but that’s a question for another day x_

Josie was slightly shocked by Hope’s statement. But she also laughed at it as well.

**Josie:** _I am offended. But you have definitely intrigued me, I want to know more, tell me x_

**Hope:** _You want me to tell you more about how much of a hot mess you are? ;) Okay, that’s easy. You are flirtier when you are drunk. And it amazes me how easily I can get you to crumble… Even more so when I don’t even touch you. Now that is something I can definitely get behind ;) hahaha x_

Josie’s eyes darted across her phone screen. She couldn’t believe what she had just read. Lizzie couldn’t either.

_“What does that mean? ‘you are flirtier when you are drunk, and you crumble when she doesn’t even touch you’… Josette Saltzman what have you been doing?!”_ Lizzie definitely wasn’t happy, and she didn’t like the fact that Josie was actually blushing from the messages.

Josie breathed out a slight sigh of annoyance, she shook her head but finally relented and decided she was going to tell Lizzie … most of what happened, whilst leaving out some of the more… risqué parts. _“Okay… Fine… I’ll tell you. But you can’t say anything whilst I’m talking. I don’t want you to interrupt me. If you interrupt me then I won’t tell you. Okay?”_

Lizzie just nodded, she shuffled herself away from Josie and sat upright on the bed before turning to face Josie. Josie started to tell Lizzie pretty much everything. She talked about Hope’s towel falling down and how Hope basically got changed in front of her, then about how she and Hope played twenty questions and how they drank a whole bottle of their Dad’s whiskey. She told her about what happened at the Grill and how she kissed Hope. Josie was so enthusiastic and passionate when she talked about Hope. When Josie had finished talking… well rambling… she had a massive smile on her face. Lizzie was in shock and she struggled to process it all.

_“Wait, what?! YOU LET HER SLEEP IN MY BED! Why would you let her do that? You know how I feel about my bed.”_ Lizzie was more pissed about someone sleeping in her bed than about anything else that had happened. 

_“I didn’t let her sleep in your bed… I did offer for her to sleep in my bed with me. But she just laughed and climbed into your bed instead.”_ Josie shrugged as she toyed with her phone. She finally decided to message Hope back.

**Josie:** _I’m glad that you find turning me into a hot mess is funny x_

**Hope:** _I never said that I found it funny… Also, now you have said it, it definitely is fun to see you all… worked up ;) But I also find it… alluring and sexy x_

*******

Hope was halfway through her movie and her phone buzzed every so often with a message from Josie. It made her heart feel like it’s dancing every time her name pops up on the screen. Hope’s last text that she sent to Josie saying that she found her being a hot mess is alluring and sexy was sent over ten minutes ago. Hope’s phone danced through her fingers and she half watched the movie, growing impatient with every minute that passes by. Hope checks her phone again, it’s now 12:08am. Hope groans, she decides to put her phone on charge and go to bed. She’s got to get up early in the morning, she’s back at school.

As she settled into bed, she shuts down her laptop, giving up on the movie and rolls over in the bed. She breathes in Josie’s scent one more time before she stands up and heads to the bathroom. Hope came back to the bedroom and checked her phone one last time before she went to sleep. Her heart fluttered when she saw Josie’s name on the screen.

**Josie:** _You’re just a tease aren’t you? And wait, you find me alluring and sexy? ;) xx_

A small panic set into Hope. Yes, she did find Josie sexy, she always had. But it was more of a long-distance longing that took its form. And what happened earlier when Josie kissed her… She couldn’t stop replaying it in her head. She just wanted to kiss her again. Hope shook her head and typed out her message.

**Hope:** _You have no idea ;) … And no, I didn’t say that. I said I find getting you… all worked up… over nothing is alluring and sexy hahaha xx_

Hope tried to stay awake for the brunette’s response, but she was just too tired. She settled into bed and quickly fell asleep.

***

Josie’s heart skipped a beat when she received Hope’s last text.

**Hope:** _You have no idea ;) … And no, I didn’t say that. I said I find getting you… all worked up… over nothing is alluring and sexy hahaha xx_

Josie wanted to jump around her room, her heart was in a spin. She just wanted to tell the girl that she loved her… But that would have been too weird, even by Josie’s standards. Josie contemplated what she wanted to send back. She wrote and rewrote the text about 10 times, she can’t find the right words to say. So, she didn’t say anything. She needed to sleep on it then speak to MG about it in the morning, he would know what to say. MG always knows. Josie quickly ran to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She had stopped crying a while ago, but her face was still puffy and red. She splashed her face with cold water then got ready for bed.

Josie came back to her room and Lizzie had finally gotten herself into her own bed for the night. Josie was grateful. She climbed into her own bed and tried to sleep. But her thoughts kept racing and they kept coming back to Hope. And the fact that Hope finds her sexy, it makes Josie’s heart twinge but in a good way… definitely a good way. Josie eventually manages to fall asleep with a smile on her face.

Josie woke up to the sound of Lizzie’s alarm. It had been ringing for the past 15 minutes and Lizzie hadn’t even woken up yet. Josie picked up one of her pillows and threw it at her.

_“I’m awake! God what is wrong with you? There’s no need for violence at 7:45 in the morning”_ Lizzie huffed.

_“Well turn your alarm off then!”_ Josie retorted.

“Fine.” Lizzie rolled her eyes as she rolled over to turn her alarm off.

Lizzie and Josie got changed rather quickly then made their way down to the dining room for breakfast. Josie settled on a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, she headed over to the table where MG was sat. Lizzie quickly followed behind. _“Hey MG. I need your help with something.”_ Josie sits down next to him.

_“Sure, what can I do for you?”_ MG asks.

_“Okay before I tell you, you promise you can’t get mad at me? I can’t deal with you being mad at me.”_ Josie sounded slightly worried.

MG just nodded as he ate his breakfast.

_“Okay, so last night I broke up with Landon… After the game on Saturday, I went to see my Dad at home and that girl from the game was there… The one that Landon couldn’t stop staring at? She is quite short and has red hair and an amazing… body… Focus Josie. Anyway, she was at my Dad’s apparently, she’s been living there. And when I was at my Dad’s she came out of the shower and she walked into me, then her towel fell down…”_ Josie shook her head as she smiled at the thought. _“Okay so long story short… because it is a very long story… I kissed her. And then we were texting last night, and she sent me this text and I don’t know what to say back… I need your help.”_

_“Okay, I’m just gunna skip past the whole ‘you broke up with Landon’ thing for now… and help you with your current problem with this girl… What’s her name?”_ MG was really concerned but it tried not to let it show.

_“Hope, her name is Hope.”_ Josie smiled as she pulled out her phone and pulled up the text messages to show MG.

MG read through the messages. _“Wow okay, I need to hear the whole story about what happened between you.”_ He seemed surprised.

_“Focus MG, what do I say back?”_ Josie was starting to get nervous.

_“I don’t know, tell her… Tell her you want to find out more. And ask her why she finds you so alluring and sexy.”_ Those last 3 words made MG laugh. He couldn’t keep a straight face. Josie punched him in the arm. _“What was that for?”_ He scowled playfully.

_“You know what you did.”_ Josie laughed as she wrote out a text to Hope.

**Josie:** _I want you to give me an idea ;) And I definitely need to know more about the whole ‘alluring and sexy’ thing… Explain it to me? ;) xx_

The bell rang and she locked her phone and put it in her pocket. MG, Lizzie and Josie cleared their table and made their way to their first lessons, they didn’t have any lessons together this morning so they all went their separate ways as they left the dining room.

They managed to get through their first 3 lessons without any major incidents. Josie kept checking her phone every ten minutes to see if she had a reply from Hope, but she hadn’t. Josie’s head started to spin slightly. Had she said the wrong thing? What if Hope was having second thoughts and didn’t actually want anything to do with her. What if Hope was just winding her up? Then she just broke up with Landon over nothing.

As the bell rang, signalling lunch, Josie picked up her bag and headed to find MG. He was already in the dining room. Josie grabs some food and joins him at the table. _“MG, I’m freaking out. She’s not replied back to me. What if she’s having second thoughts?”_

_“There’s no need to worry. Are you sure she hasn’t replied?”_ MG didn’t seem too concerned.

_“Yes, I’m sure! Look!”_ Josie pulls out her phone and unlocks it, she sees the unsent text sitting in the message box. _“Oh shit. I didn’t even send it. I’m so stupid.”_ Josie felt a moment of relief, before the nerves starting kicking in again. Her hand faltered slightly before she hit the send button. She shook her head then sighed.

_“See, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Are you going to tell me what actually happened now? Between you and Landon… and the whole Hope situation.”_ MG was definitely intrigued.

So, Josie told him everything. She told him about the towel incident; about Hope getting dressed in front of her, the twenty questions, the drinking, the flirting, the way Hope calmed her down and the fact that she was drunk and got changed in front of her then invited her to sleep with her… Then the whole vibrator thing and her moaning Hope’s name. And about the incident at the Grill and about the kiss. She loved talking about Hope. It lit up her face and MG could see that.

_“Wow, okay… I think that girl has you whipped.”_ MG laughed.

Josie punched him in the arm. _“I am not whipped.”_

MG held his hands up in defeat as he laughed. They continued to talk until the bell rang.


	7. It's a Date... Sort of.

Chapter 7- It’s A Date… Sort of.

Hope woke up to her alarm at 7am. She got up and had a shower, she got dressed. She picked a simple blue top, greyish jeans and a red jacket. She headed downstairs to join Alaric for breakfast. She checked her phone several times, but Josie hadn’t replied. She felt her heart pull every time she checked. She shook her head and decided it would be better if she didn’t think about it, so she put her phone on vibrate and shoved it in her pocket.

 _“Mornin’”_ Alaric greeted Hope as she walked into the kitchen.

 _“Morning. Is it okay if I can get a lift with you today?”_ Hope asked as she walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup, gesturing to Alaric to ask if he wants one.

 _“Yeah that’s fine, I can give you a lift in, but I won’t be able to bring you back. I’ve got a staff meeting. Thanks for the coffee.”_ Alaric smiled.

 _“That’s fine, I’ll probably hang out with Maya after school anyways so.”_ Hope grabbed some cereal from the cupboard and poured herself a bowl. She munched away as she watched the news. There wasn’t anything really interesting on, but it was better than sitting in silence.

Alaric and Hope left the house around 8:00am. They engage in small chat. But Hope could tell that something was bothering Alaric. _“What’s up?”_ Hope asks.

Alaric side-glances at her.

 _“You’re gripping the wheel tighter than usual. That normally indicates you need to talk about something.”_ Hope noted.

Alaric exhaled loudly. _“I just wanted to apologise to you again. I know I didn’t say it properly yesterday, I was more focus on Josie. I felt really bad about it. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to see me like that.”_

 _“Honestly, it’s fine Alaric. It’s not the first time I’ve had to sort you out when you’ve come home drunk. But the one thing that hurt the most was having to do it in front of Josie. She really doesn’t deserve that, neither does Lizzie for that matter. But you really need to make it up to her. You don’t realise how much it hurts her. She acts like it doesn’t, but you need to sort this out Alaric.”_ Hope looked at him with sad eyes.

 _“Thanks Hope. I’ll make it up to her. I’ll take her out somewhere at the weekend.”_ He placed a hand on Hope’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before returning his hand to the wheel. Alaric switched the radio on for the rest of the drive. It was some country/folk music station. Hope just shook her head and remained silent for the rest of the drive.

Alaric drove to the Grill and Hope got out. _“Do you want anything?”_ Hope asked.

 _“No thanks. I think I’ll just head to the school. I’ll see you tonight?”_ Alaric said.

 _“Yeah, not sure what time I’ll be back though, but if you make some food, keep some aside for me?”_ Hope replied.

 _“Sure thing. See you later Hope.”_ Alaric nodded, he reversed and drove off in the direction of MFHS.

Hope walked into the Grill and ordered a cappuccino as she turned around Maya walked in. Hope enjoyed being in Maya’s company, it honestly felt refreshing to her. She didn’t have to really pretend to be anybody else. She didn’t tell her that she’s a supernatural, but it felt like she had made a real friend, she might even go as far to say that Maya was her best friend. 

_“Hey Hope! How was the rest of your weekend?”_ Maya smiled.

 _“Hey Maya. Yeah it was good thanks. Sorry about bailing on the game. How’s Ethan doing?”_ Hope asked as she shared a hug with Maya.

 _“It’s okay, you’ll just have to make it up to me.”_ Maya laughed. _“Ethan’s doing okay, he’s gotta spend another couple of days in Hospital, they want to see if they can reset the bone properly. So, he might still have a chance to play Football. We just have to wait and see. You can go and visit him if you want. I know he would like that.”_

 _“What do you have in mind? To make it up to you, I mean.”_ Hope laughed. _“I really do hope he gets better. Let me know when he’s up for some visitors and I’ll go and see him.”_

 _“Oh.. Oh.. Erm, I only meant it as a joke, but if your being serious then you can buy me dinner tonight. I have nothing better to do. And I will do, I’ll let Ethan know as well.”_ Maya was slightly flustered, but she just smiled at Hope.

 _“That’s okay, I like food so it’s not that big a deal. Plus, it would be better than spending another evening with Alaric… I mean Mr Saltzman.”_ Hope shook her head.

 _“Wait… What do you mean it would be better than spending another evening with … Mr Saltzman?”_ Maya looked really confused.

Hope debated about telling her the truth but settled for a half- truth instead. _“He’s a family friend. I’m staying with him for a while because my family is travelling and they didn’t trust me to stay at home alone, so they sent me up here.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Where are you from then? If you’re not a townie.”_ Maya smiled.

 _“I’m from New Orleans… Are you heading to school? Why don’t we walk together?”_ Hope smiled and pointed to the door.

 _“Oh cool. And yeah I am. Let me just grab a drink and we’ll set off.”_ Maya walked over to the counter and ordered her drink, after she ordered, she turned back to Hope and smiled. _“Let’s go.”_

Hope and Maya walked to school. Hope talked about her family, but she didn’t mention her mom or dad. Maya didn’t question it; which Hope was glad about. Hope checked her phone a few times, still no message from Josie. They arrived at school just before the bell rang. _“Thanks for letting me ramble on. I needed a distraction this morning.”_ Hope laughed and hugged Maya.

 _“Oh, it’s my pleasure. Come find me at Lunch? I’ll probably be sat outside somewhere.”_ Maya said as she rested a hand on Hope’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze before they separated and went to their classes.

***

As the bell rang, Hope rushed out of her class and headed to the cafeteria and picked up some food before she headed outside to find Maya. It didn’t take Hope long to find Maya sat on the grass near the football pitch. _“Hey!”_ She said as she joined Maya on the floor.

 _“Hey! How were your classes?”_ Maya asked as pulled Hope into a sideways hug.

 _“They were fine, boring, but fine. I knew all of it anyways. Private education is actually useful for something.”_ Hope laughed.

Hope pulled out her phone and checked it again. Still no message. Hope felt slightly defeated. She shook her head and threw her phone on the grass in front of her as she groaned. Hope and Maya chatted for a while about classes and about the football team. Maya even made Hope laugh a few times, but nothing could really distract Hope from looking at her phone every few minutes. Eventually Maya relented. _“Okay, what is with you? You haven’t stopped checking your phone all lunch.”_

 _“I erm… I’m waiting for a text. I thought I would have got a reply by now, but I haven’t and I’m panicking slightly.”_ Hope huffed.

 _“Oooo, who’s texting you? I thought you didn’t have any friends. Well besides me and Ethan.”_ Maya laughed as she pushed Hope’s shoulder.

Hope battered her hand away; she shook her head. _“It’s no one really. Just someone I met the other day. I think I might have pushed things a bit too far.”_

 _“Have you thought that they might just be busy?”_ Maya raised her eyebrow.

 _“She isn’t busy… I practically know her schedule.”_ Hope groaned and shoved her head into her hands, she’s just admitted to Maya that she’s a stalker.

 _“She?! Who’s she? And why do you know her schedule?”_ Maya was slightly shocked, but she also started to laugh so hard that she fell backwards. _“Awe does Hope have a crush on someone. And a girl no less?”_

 _“Oh shut up.”_ Hope playfully kicked Maya whilst she was still rolling around on the floor.

 _“Come on! You HAVE to tell me about her! She clearly got in your head. I’ve not seen you like this before.”_ Maya finally stopped laughing and sat up to face Hope. Just as Hope was debating whether to tell Maya about Josie, she was saved by her phone. Josie had finally texted her back. Hope’s face lit up.

**Josie:** _I want you to give me an idea ;) And I definitely need to know more about the whole ‘alluring and sexy’ thing… Explain it to me? ;) xx_

Maya shuffled closer to Hope trying get a sneak peek at the message, but Hope was too quick and pulled the phone closer to her chest. Hope was so distracted reading the message over and over again that she didn’t have time to react when Maya threw herself on top of Hope.

 _“You’re not getting up til you tell me about this girl. Who is she? What’s her name? Does she go this school? How old is she? Where did you meet her? And the biggest question… HOW do you know her schedule?”_ Maya laughed as she pinned Hope to the ground. Hope let her, she didn’t want to make things strange by using her wolf strength to get Maya off her body, but she did cling to her phone for dear life.

Just as Hope was about to open her mouth, the bell rang. _“Saved by the bell.”_ Hope laughed as she sat up. Maya huffed.

 _“That is so unfair! And don’t think you’ve heard the last of this. I’ll get it out of you tonight.”_ Maya winked as she stood up, she offered her hand to Hope to help her up. Hope accepted. Maya helped her stand and they brushed the grass from each other. _“So, should I just meet you straight after school or did you want to get changed before we go for dinner?”_

 _“We can go straight from school if you want? We’ll just go to the Grill for something to eat then sit on the green by the town hall for a while, the longer I’m out the house, the better.”_ Hope shrugged as she slightly shoulder-barged Maya as they walked back into the school.

 _“Sounds like a date.”_ Maya winked.

 _“See you later.”_ Hope waved at Maya before she looked at her phone again. She smiled as she re-read the text for the tenth time. Hope typed out a reply.

**Hope:** _If you’re as good as you think you are then you’ll just have to use a locator spell to find me tonight ;) and I might… MIGHT just explain it to you xx_

Hope smiled as she hit send. She shoved her phone back in her pocket and ran to class.

***

Josie was in her Defensive Magic 203 class daydreaming about Hope when she felt something vibrate between her legs. She forgot that she hadn’t put her phone away since she sent her message to Hope at lunch, because she wanted to reply back straight away. She moaned slightly at the vibrations before she remembered where she was. She shot up in her seat and her phone fell on the floor. _“Shit.”_ She muttered as she picked up her phone. Luckily, she was sat at the back of the classroom, so the teacher didn’t see.

As Josie read Hope’s message her body filled with lust. She groaned as her head hit the desk. Hope was definitely torturing her. Josie really wanted to see Hope, but she knew she couldn’t sneak out of school. She already spent Saturday night off campus and was in trouble for that. She shook her head as she typed out a reply.

**Josie:** _It’s a date ;) xx_

Josie triple-checked that she actually sent the message this time. She had. Josie needed to come up with a plan to get her out of school. She needed MG’s help. So after class Josie made her way across the school to find MG before he went to his next class.

 _“MG! I need your help again! It’s really important this time. I need you to help me sneak out of school later.”_ Josie spoke fast because she was excited.

 _“Why do you need to sneak out of school?”_ MG looked confused.

Josie huffed. _“Hope texted me back. She wants me to meet her tonight. So, I’m going. I need to see her again. I need to find out why she has this… hold on me. I can’t stop thinking about her.”_

MG shook his head. _“Okay fine, but it’s on you if you get caught… Meet me in the Dining Room at dinner and I’ll help you.”_

 _“Thank you soo much MG!”_ Josie gave him a kiss on the cheek before she skipped away to her next class.

***

Hope waited for Maya on a bench near the car park to the school. Her heads were in the clouds thinking about the possibility of seeing Josie later. She didn’t hear Maya sneak up on her.

 _“HEY!”_ Maya shouted as she placed her hands onto Hope’s shoulders.

Hope grabbed Maya’s wrist and went to flip the girl over her shoulder but she stopped herself when she realised where she was. _“Jeez woman. Don’t sneak up on me like that. I almost threw you over my shoulder.”_ Hope laughed as she pushed Maya’s arm. _“Let’s go.”_

 _“What are you? Some kind of ninja woman?”_ Maya giggled as she linked arms with Hope and they headed to the Grill.

 _“Oh, you have no idea.”_ Hope chuckled. The more Hope thought about it, the most sense it made… Maybe she was some sort of ninja.

The two girls walked arm in arm to the Grill. Maya was moaning about her lessons and her mom. They entered the Grill and found a table to sit at. Hope didn’t realise until the ordered food that the table they were currently sitting at was the same one Hope, Josie and Alaric sat at yesterday. The one where Hope started to tease Josie under the table. The memories flooded back into Hope’s mind. Hope moaned and dropped her head on the table.

 _“What’s on your mind Sweet?”_ Maya laughed.

 _“Nothing.”_ Hope whined into the table.

 _“Oh, don’t give me that. I know you better than that. Tell me.”_ Maya playfully kicked Hope under the table.

 _“Ow! Okay that’s not fair… And it’s Josie.”_ Hope sighed as she finally lifted her head but didn’t have the courage to look at her friend.

 _“Oooo. IS that her name?!”_ Maya was giddy. Finally Hope said something about this mysterious person she had basically been pining over all day.

 _“Yes, Josie is her name. She’s 16. And she goes to the Salvatore Boarding School. And yesterday… at this very table I … I erm, started to feel her up whilst her dad sat where you are… And then, in the bathroom, over there… I basically forced her into kissing me… And you’re gunna hate me, but I told her to come and find me later.”_ Hope groaned again and hit her head on the table… again.

Maya looked slightly shocked at the revelation; she didn’t think Hope would actually tell her. But then intrigue crawled across her face. And then it hit her. _“WAIT! You are crushing on Mr Saltzman’s daughter?!”_ Maya exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

Hope’s face turned bright red, but she never spoke.

 _“How did you meet you? When did you meet her? What happened between you two?”_ Maya was genuinely curious.

 _“Well she was at the game on Saturday and then after Alaric punched Vardermus, she came over to check on him. But he’d gone out and I was in the house alone. She was walking around the house when I got out of the shower and she walked into me. My towel fell down.”_ Hope shook her head. _“Anyways we got drunk and went to bed… NOT together… but she thought I was asleep and she… used a toy… and started moaning my name. It was soo HOT and it turned me on so much. Then yesterday whilst we were here, she wouldn’t stop swinging her legs and they kept hitting me, so I forced her to stop but putting my hand on her knee. And well, she opened… her legs. But then we got interrupted by the food.”_ Hope swallowed, hard. Her eyes turning black as she recalled the events.

 _“After she finished eating, she went to the bathroom and I followed her. When she came out of the stall, I continued to… push her buttons and she told me to stop flirting with her because she had a boyfriend, but I just said_ “Oh really? Because it didn’t seem like that last night when you were moaning my name… Or about 20 minutes ago at the table…” _And well, she forced me up against the bathroom wall and kissed me. Oh man… that kiss though. But I stopped her, it killed me to do it, but I wanted to … cock block her. GOD knows why. And it’s killing me because all I want to do is see her and kiss her and I … don’t know. Help me?”_ Hope felt like she rambled on for ages and when she finally looked up Maya had a massive smile on her face.

 _“It sounds like you’re in love Hope.”_ Maya laughed so hard. Hope just scowled at her. _“I’m joking, sort of. And from what you just told me; you didn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do. And the fact that you might be seeing her tonight and that she wants to see your is a good sign, right?”_ Maya reached her hand across the table and took Hope’s hand in her own and squeezed it.

 _“I guess.”_ Hope shrugged.

Hope and Maya’s food arrived shortly after Hope’s confession. They ate in relative silence. After they had finished eating and Hope had paid, they headed out to the green and sat on the grass.

***

Josie met MG in the Dining Room. She spent ages trying to decide what to wear. She eventually settled on a pair of black shorts, a white top and a red jacket. She left her hair down. _“Hey MG, sorry I’m late.”_ Josie apologised.

 _“Wow Josie you look hot.”_ MG looked kind of shocked. _“She must be one very special lady.”_ He smiled.

 _“Okay, so what’s the plan?”_ Josie blushed at the comment MG made, but she couldn’t really contain her excitement.

 _“You can take the old tunnels. It will bring you out by the Old Churchyard, near the Cemetery. You should be able to syphon some of the magic from there to do your locator spell. Let me know if you’re coming back tonight or not. And what should I tell Lizzie?”_ MG had everything planned out, which Josie was grateful for, he was an amazing friend.

 _“Just tell her I’ve gone to see Dad. She won’t ask too many questions.”_ Josie hugged MG. _“Thanks MG. I really appreciate this.”_

 _“Just don’t make it a habit.”_ MG called after her as she skipped away.

***

Josie made it to the Old Churchyard safely and without getting caught around 6pm. She found a place where she could syphon magic and got to work. The locator spell was kind of tricky to do by herself, but she managed it, just about. The easiest part was finding Hope. She was in the middle of the town centre. _“Well that wasn’t very hard.”_ Josie shook her head and folded up her map and made her way to Hope.

It took Josie about 20 minutes to walk from the Old Churchyard into town. She listened to her music on the way. For some reason she found herself listening to You Got Me by Colbie Caillat several times. It just made her feel so warm inside. Josie walked into the Grill and brought herself a coffee before she made her way over to the green. From the distance she could see Hope’s red hair flowing down her back and she was talking to someone who was lying diagonally across to her. Josie’s heart twinged with sadness slightly, she thought Hope would have been alone. She debated turning around and going back to school. But she’s come this far already, and she REALLY wanted to see Hope.

Josie took a deep breath and cleared her thoughts as she stepped towards Hope and the other girl. They weren’t facing her, so she planned her moves. When she approached Hope, she put her cup down beside her and she sat down and scooted herself into Hope’s back, resting her legs on either side of Hope’s legs and wrapped her arms around the redhead’s waist. She laid a small kiss on the left side of her neck before resting her chin on Hope’s shoulder and whispered, _“I thought you would have made it harder to find you.”_ She felt Hope shiver against her then lean back into her.

Maya started laughing next to them. She could see that Hope’s face flushed red. Josie scowled at her. _“You must be Josie. It’s nice to meet you… again. I’m Maya. Hope’s … only friend.”_ Maya held out her hand. Josie went to shake it but Hope punched Maya in the arm, causing her to pull her arm away, rubbing it. _“I would try and shake your hand again, but your girlfriend just caused me some serious pain.”_ Hope punched her again. _“Ouch, okay. I deserved that one.”_ Maya tried to punch Hope back, but Hope was too quick, and she blocked it.

 _“Try it again and see what happens.”_ Hope laughed as she wrapped Josie’s arms tighter around herself, interlacing their fingers together.

 _“So where are you from Josie? I mean Hope gave me very little information about you. And I’m curious about how you could turn her into a wreck in just one day.”_ Maya smiled as she sat up to face them both, she flinched when Hope started to play with Josie’s fingers. _“Please don’t hit me again.”_

 _“I’m Mystic Falls through and through. Been here my whole life, apart from when I was younger, but I don’t really remember that much about it. There’s not really anything else for me to say. And in all honesty, I think she turned me into a wreck first.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Hmm, I’m not entirely sure about that one. I think I was a wreck first. I was just better at hiding it. That reminds me, you need to get better at hiding things. I found your vibrator within the first 5 minutes of being in your room… Did you really think that putting it in your second drawer down, under some clothes was a good hiding place?”_ Hope smirked.

Maya burst out laughing, and all Josie could do was bury her face into Hope’s neck to hide her embarrassment, which didn’t work.

 _“I hate you.”_ Josie mumbled.

 _“No, you don’t.”_ Hope chuckled. _“You wouldn’t be here if you did. Although, you probably would be safer if you weren’t here. I mean I could start talking about what you did with that vibra…”_ Hope was cut off halfway through her sentence because Josie released her right hand from Hope’s grip and moved it up to Hope’s neck, gripping it slightly, tilting her head back as she targeted Hope’s lips once again. Josie shuffled herself further back on the grass, causing Hope to fall lower into her lap.

Now that Josie had a better angle of Hope’s lips, she leaned further into the redhead, deepening her embrace. The passion re-ignited inside her, the same passion she had felt yesterday. Josie rolled her tongue across the Tribrid’s lips, asking for access which was granted. They moaned at the same time as they felt their tongue’s meet. Josie’s thumb traced along Hope’s jaw, causing a shiver down the redhead’s spine. Hope was seconds away from turning over and pinning Josie down when she heard Maya speak.

 _“Wow. Okay. You two are… extremely hot when you kiss and it’s turning me on a lot watching you both, but I think I should probably get going…”_ Maya starts to stand up but Hope pulls her back down as she breaks her kiss with Josie.

 _“You’re staying. At least for a little while longer… I need you to cock block me when it’s getting too much.”_ Hope laughs. Josie slaps her.

 _“I’m sat right here, and I can hear you.”_ Josie says as she furrowed her brow.

 _“Sorry babe.”_ Hope pouted.

 _“You will be.”_ Josie smiled and kissed Hope again. Hope tried to deepen the kiss, but Maya did an exaggerated cough.

Hope and Josie broke their kiss and looked at Maya and spoke in unison, _“Sorry.”_

_“So Maya, tell me about yourself. All I know about you is that you go to Mystic Falls High School and you’re Hope’s only friend.”_ Josie smiled at her.

 _“Okay I will tell you, as long as you can keep your tongue out of Hope’s mouth for more than 5 minutes.”_ Maya laughs.

 _“Can’t make any promises.”_ Hope winked at Maya and Josie slapped her. _“I was joking. Maya knows I was joking.”_ Hope and Maya laughed.

 _“It’s okay Josie, I’ve known her long enough to know that she’s always going to be a pain in my ass. Well I have a brother, Ethan. my mom is the new sheriff of Mystic Falls. We’ve not long moved here, it’s a weird little town you have here. It’s cute, but there’s definitely something strange about it, I haven’t been able to figure it out yet.”_ Maya stated. Hope and Josie shared a quick glance.

Well Josie is glad that Hope hadn’t told her about the supernatural entities in this town. But Josie was reeling inside. Ethan is Maya’s brother. She used black magic to break his arm. Josie started to spiral outwardly. Before long Josie is having a full-blown panic attack. She pushed Hope off her lap and started to walk off with no direction in mind. Tears started to roll down her face, she found herself sitting against a tree with her head in her lap.

Hope and Maya looked at each other. Hope looked really concerned. _“Stay here, okay? I’ll go and talk to her. I’ll be back soon.”_ Hope gave Maya a weak smile and squeezed her hand before she stood up and followed Josie.

Hope found her sitting by a tree, she was in a complete state. Hope crouched down next to the brunette. _“Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?”_ Hope placed her hand around Josie’s shoulder. _“Hey, talk to me okay? You can tell me anything and I won’t judge you. I’m pretty sure I can outmatch you on the scale of bad things done.”_ Hope gently chuckled. She sat with Josie for about 5 minutes before Josie had the strength to talk.

 _“At the game on Saturday, I… I was the one that hurt Ethan. I was the one that broke his arm. I used black magic. Professor Vardermus gave me the spell. I didn’t know… I honestly didn’t know that would happen. And now that I know your friends with him and his sister, this just makes things a lot worse. I don’t think I can stay here any longer.”_ Josie struggled to speak in between her spouts of intense crying.

 _“Oh baby, come here.”_ Hope kisses the brunette’s forehead. _“Okay, I can fix this. It’s not a big deal. I can just give him some of my blood and it will heal him. Okay? We won’t tell Maya. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her… that was a poor choice of words, but what I mean is. When I give him my blood, he’s just going to be so pleased that he can play football again that no one will question it and if they do start to question it, then we’ll just get MG or Caleb to compel them. Sound like a plan?”_ Hope pulled her into a hug. She kissed the witch’s forehead and down each cheek, before reaching her lips. She lifted Josie’s chin and looked her in the eyes. _“Okay?”_ Josie nodded slightly and she leaned in to let Hope kiss her.

This time their kiss was soft and patience, there was no need to rush or race. This time it felt like there was no time between them. It was gentle. This time, Josie broke it. _“Oh God, I’m so sorry that you had to kiss my tear-soaked face. And I’m sorry for pulling you away from your friend. I didn’t mean to dampen your night.”_ Josie shook her head.

 _“It’s fine, I’ll just tell her that you’re crazy and you forgot to take your meds today.”_ Hope laughed, but it didn’t last long as Josie used her full strength to punch her, which for Josie isn’t that strong but Hope played into it. _Okay, I deserved that.”_ Hope grinned. _“Are you ready to come back now?”_

Josie wiped the remainder of her tears away from her face and nodded. She placed a finger under Hope’s chin and pulled her closer, kissing her once more before they returned to Maya. They walked back hand in hand. They sat down and Josie started to apologise. Maya just waved her off and said there was no need, we all have bad days.

The three girls chatted until it got dark and chilly, they decided to relocate to the Grill to warm up. They walked in together and headed towards ‘their table’. Hope and Josie slid into their respective seats and Maya sat opposite them. _“No funny business you two.”_ Maya laughed. Hope and Josie just stared at her, then they looked at each other. _“Who did you tell?”_ Both supernaturals said at the same time.

Hope was the first one to speak. _“Well I only told Maya, because she was getting annoyed with me constantly checking my phone every 5 minutes waiting for you to text me back and then we came here for dinner and we sat… here and I just broke and told her… Who did you tell?”_

 _“I told Lizzie and MG and…. Landon, sort of.”_ Josie shrugged.

 _“What do you mean you sort of told Landon? What’s he got to do with this?”_ Hope was extremely confused.

 _“Well when I told you I had a boyfriend. I wasn’t lying. Landon was my boyfriend. But I broke up with him when I got back to school yesterday.”_ Josie spoke softly with a sad tone.

 _“That … explains a lot.”_ Hope shook her head.

 _“What does that mean?”_ Now Josie was the one that confused, bordering on annoyed.

 _“Well it explains why you were both being really weird at the game.”_ Hope learned into Josie and whispered, _“And the fact that me and Landon used to date, but everyone forgot that when I came back from Malivore. So, it looks like we have the same taste in men.”_

Josie looked shocked. She didn’t know how to process that information. Hope placed her hand on Josie’s knee and squeezed it. She used her free hand to turn Josie’s head to face her. _“But I definitely prefer you. Your lips are a hundred times softer. And your body… My God your body… is just… enchanting.”_ Hope’s eyes turned black. _“I just want to…”_

_“Don’t even bother finishing that sentence. You two are so gross. You need to get a room or something. Because you’re starting to make me feel a bit sick… It was hot earlier, but now it’s just… Ew.”_ Maya laughed.

 _“Oh shit. I’m sorry Maya, I completely forgot that you were here.”_ Hope winked at her.

Josie’s cheeks flushed pink. _“Sorry Maya.”_ She tried not to make eye contact with her.

 _“it’s fine. I guess I’m just going to have to get used to having to share my best friend with someone else.”_ Maya reached out both of her hands, took one of Hope’s and one of Josie’s then gave them both a squeeze.

Maya checked her phone, she had 6 text messages and 3 missed calls from her mom. _“Oh shit. I need to go home before my mom tasks the whole sheriff’s department to find me. I was nice to finally meet you properly Josie. And I’ll see you tomorrow Hope? If you come to school. Either way, text me. Bye guys.”_ Maya shuffled out from the table and headed for the door, she turned back briefly to wave to the two girls left at the table. They waved back as she vanished from the Grill.

 _“Oh wow, It’s almost 9:30pm… What are you going to do? Are you going back to school or do you wanna come to your dads with me?”_ Hope took Josie’s hand in her own and fiddled with her fingers.

 _“Erm, in all honesty I don’t think I want to be alone tonight. Yes, Lizzie is at school. But it’s not the same. So, I’ll come to my Dad’s. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him though.”_ Josie was slightly nervous.

 _“It’s okay. I’m sure we can think of something on the walk over there. I mean it is like a 40-minute walk to get back. So, plenty of time.”_ Hope chuckled. She shared a chaste kiss with the brunette, before she broke it. _“Okay, let’s go.”_

Josie shuffled out from the table first, then Hope quickly followed. Hope grabbed Josie’s hand as they walked out the door and back to Alaric’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 Chapters in one day? I hope you've enjoyed them!
> 
> Also, I've made Hope and Maya "best friends" instead of "love interests". It just felt better for me that Hope has at least one friend. 
> 
> Also!!! LEGACIES COMES BACK ON TONIGHT! WHO ELSE IS EXCITED?! Still shipping #Hosie.


	8. Things Always Work Out... In the End

Chapter 8- Things Always Work Out... In the End.

It was around 10:30pm when Hope and Josie arrived back at Alaric’s. His car was in the drive but there were no lights on. Hope got her key out of her bag and unlocked the door. The two girls stepped inside and the door shut softly behind them. The room was in darkness, so Hope switched the light on. Hope shrugged, took her shoes off then headed over to the kitchen. Josie pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to MG saying that she won’t be back tonight and asking if he could meet her tomorrow at the Grill.

 _“Do you want a drink?”_ Hope called to Josie.

 _“Yeah, I’ll have a coffee thanks.”_ Josie replied.

Hope nodded and slid across the floor to the fridge. When she opened it, she saw a dinner plate with what looked like a curry. She took the food and the milk out. _“I think Alaric is probably in bed. I can’t believe he actually made some food. Do you want some?”_ Hope smiled as she turned around and saw Josie sitting at the kitchen island.

 _“He probably just ordered it then plated it up.”_ Josie chuckled.

 _“That makes more sense. Do you want some?”_ Hope laughed as she put the plate in the microwave and set the timer for 5 minutes.

 _“Can do. I’ve not eaten anything since lunch.”_ Josie shrugged.

Hope tried to do a half-exaggerated spin of shock to face Josie, but she lost her footing on the slippery floor. She fell like a sack of potatoes and landed in a heap on the floor. _“Ow, okay. That hurt.”_ She laughed as she rubbed her head.

Josie quickly ran to her side. _“Oh My God! Are you okay?”_ The brunette seemed a little panicked.

 _“Yeah, I’m good, help me up?”_ Hope said with a devilish smile.

Josie held out her hand to help Hope up. Hope took hold of Josie’s hand and started to get up, but she had other plans. The redhead pulled the brunette on top of her. Josie landed between Hope’s legs, she face-planted on Hope’s chest. _“Oh shit.”_ Josie mumbled as she started to push herself up onto her arms. _“You did that on purpose!”_ Josie playfully punched Hope in the left arm.

Hope knocked Josie’s arm from under her, causing the brunette to face-plant Hope’s chest again. _“And?”_ Hope smirked.

 _“Stop doing that.”_ Josie shook her head, causing a small moan to escape from Hope’s mouth. Josie smiled at the sound.

 _“Never.”_ Hope smiled. She opened her mouth to speak again but the microwave beeped. _“Ugh.”_ She rolled over so she was on top of Josie, kissed her cheek and stood up. She walked over to the microwave and took the food out. Hope reached into a cupboard and picked a bowl up. She split her dinner up and put half of it into the bowl. She placed both the plate and bowl on the island and continued to make two cups of coffee. Hope flawlessly moved around Josie who was still lying on the floor. Eventually Hope looked down at the girl on the floor. _“Are you going to get up or are you just going to eat your food down there?”_ Hope winked.

Josie huffed and got herself up from the floor. _“Thanks for your help.”_ She said as she rolled her eyes at Hope.

 _“Oh, it’s my pleasure.”_ Hope raised her eyebrow and smiled at the younger girl. They both walked around to the other side of the kitchen island and sat down to eat. After they finished eating, Josie cleared away their pots and washed them. Hope moved over to the sofa and sat down. Josie made 2 fresh cups of coffee and brought them over. She handed one to Hope and placed the other one on the coffee table before she moved swiftly across the room and disappeared behind the second mystery door adjacent to the stairs, she re-emerged a few minutes later with a couple of DVDs.

 _“What do you want to watch? I’ve got Rent, Mamma Mia, or Pitch Perfect.”_ Josie smiled as she skipped over to the Tribrid.

 _“Musicals? Really?”_ Hope shook her head but smiled. _“Isn’t Rent that gay one?”_

 _“Rent isn’t gay. Yes, it does have LGBT+ characters, but it’s a story about a group of friends that go through a lot of difficult problems throughout a year. It touches on the subject of AIDs and HIV, about Love and loss and friendships. It’s beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. It’s one of my all-time favourite films.”_ Josie spoke passionately about the film.

 _“It sounds sad and we’ve had enough of that today. Why don’t we just watch Pitch Perfect. I like that one.”_ Hope laughed. _“Plus, Brittany Snow is hot.”_

 _“She is.”_ Josie nodded and puts the disk in and switches the TV on. She turned around, bit her lip and frowned slightly. She couldn’t decide where to sit. On one hand she probably should sit by herself because she needed to stretch out and she might fall asleep, like she usually does when she watches films. But on the other hand, she wanted to be close to Hope. Her eyes flickered between the two sofas. She got lost in her debate that she didn’t hear Hope talking. It was only when a small pillow hit her that Josie snapped out of her trance. _“What was that for?”_ Josie scowled.

 _“You have been standing there for like 3 minutes. Not moving. Your coffee has probably gone cold. And your blocking my view. Now are you going to sit down?”_ Hope mused.

 _“You’re so mean.”_ Josie pouted as she folded her arms across her body and tapped her foot slightly.

 _“Oh, you love it. Now come and sit down. I just want to stare at Brittany.”_ Hope laughed as she patted a spot on the sofa next to her.

Josie huffed and shook her head, but she relented and sat down next to Hope, leaving a couple of inches distance between them. Hope stretched out her legs across Josie’s lap as she leaned back into the arm of the sofa. Josie rested her hands on the redhead’s legs. After a while Josie started to absentmindedly caress Hope’s knee. Josie was so engrossed in the film that she didn’t hear Hope’s small moans.

Hope was loving the contact, but she broke it. She shuffled in her seat and put her feet on the floor before she stood up and went upstairs. Hope went to her bedroom and got changed, she put on a vest top and a pair of shorts. She went into the bathroom and used the toilet before she picked up a blanket from Caroline’s bed. She gathered it together and took it downstairs and re-joined Josie on the sofa. The Tribrid covered them both with the blanket and returned to her original position.

 _“I wondered where you went. I missed you.”_ Josie smiled slightly before she turned her attention back to the film.

 _“I wasn’t even gone for five minutes. That isn’t enough time to miss someone.”_ Hope smirked as she sunk into the sofa and Josie’s legs.

 _“Would it kill you to be nice to me for more than five minutes?”_ Josie retorted.

 _“I will have to think about that one… Okay, I thought about it and it might.”_ Hope laughed.

Josie slapped Hope’s legs. _“I think I will have to teach you to be nice. Or I’ll just have to … what was the phrase you used earlier… Oh yeah… Cock block you myself.”_ Josie smirked.

 _“You wouldn’t dare.”_ Hope’s eyes narrowed.

 _“Watch me.”_ Josie raised an eyebrow and laughed. She picked up Hope’s legs, untangled herself and moved over to the other sofa. She winked at Hope before she turned back to the TV. Hope pouted. Josie caught the sight out of the corner of her eye, she chuckled slightly. Even though she was slightly sad that she no longer has the redhead’s body heat to keep her warm. She shivered slightly against the sofa and wrapped her arm across herself.

Hope stopped watching the TV and just watched the brunette instead. After about twenty minutes, she gave in, gathered the two empty coffee cups and went to the kitchen to make fresh coffee. She filled both cups up and brought them back into the living room. She settled them both next to her as she sat on the table to face the Witch, she reached for Josie’s hands and took them in her own. Josie shuffled in her seat to face Hope.

 _“Look, I’m sorry Jose. I’m sorry that I haven’t been very nice to you these past few days. I’m just struggling. I’ve been so alone for the past 3 months. I miss my friends; I miss the school. But most of all… I missed you. And when I saw you on Saturday, it brought everything up. It showed me what I was missing. And I hated it because all I wanted to do was hug you, but you don’t remember me. Then you turned up here after the game, and I loved seeing you. I loved spending time with you. Because I’ve had a crush on you since I was 14. But I don’t know how to deal with my feelings. After my parents died, I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to let myself get close to anyone, because they all leave me. The one thing I hate the most about all of this is that I’ve known you most of my life and you once knew all this about me. Apart from the crush thing, but you had a crush on me and you started a fire in my room because you slipped a note under my door then regretted it but it was too late to get it back. I wish I had chance to read that note. Because I care about you. And I … want you in my life.”_ Hope dropped her gaze from Josie’s and played with the brunette’s fingers.

 _“So far, you’ve told me twice to trust you, but you’ve not really shown me a reason why. You know things about me that not many people do. There’s something about you that’s special, that’s different. And I want to get to know you. But you have to let me in. Like you just have. You might have to tell me things that you’ve already told me before, because I don’t remember them. But I want to experience new things with you as well. I want you to tell me about our past, but the past doesn’t really matter that much to me. Not now. BUT you need to be nicer. I’ve been hurt too many times before and I don’t want to go through that again.”_ Josie spoke softly, her eyes filled with sadness.

 _“I’m sorry. I want to be better for you. You’ve started to melt my cold heart. But it’s going to take time. I want you to help me to be better. I just don’t want you to be mad at me.”_ Hope brought Josie’s hands up to her lips and kissed them.

 _“I’m not mad at you. I never was. I just think you could be a little nicer to me. That’s all.”_ Josie leaned closer to Hope. Hope closed the rest of the distance.

Hope was the one to start their kiss this time. She was gentle and she didn’t rush. She slowly untangled her fingers from Josie’s then brought them up to the sides of the brunette’s face and rolled her thumbs along her jawline.

Josie couldn’t take it; she couldn’t handle the delicateness that Hope was using. She rolled her tongue over the Tribrid’s bottom lip before it slipped inside her mouth. Hope moaned as their tongues met. Their tongues ebbed and flowed against each other’s, but Josie broke their kiss and repositioned herself on the sofa, so she was sat with her legs stretched out and her back was pressed against the armrest. _“Come here.”_ Josie tapped her own legs. Hope pouted at the absence but quickly grinned when she realised what was happening. The redhead straddled the brunette and faced her.

They both smiled as their lips reconnected. They swiftly resumed their previous embrace. Their tongues met again. Hope leaned into Josie as her hands rested on the back of the Witch’s neck. Josie moaned as her own fingers played with the bottom edges of Hope’s vest, lifting it up slightly before her fingers danced across Hope’s warm skin. Hope moaned at the soft contact, she pushed herself deeper into the Witch, biting her lip slightly. Josie moaned into Hope’s mouth, she moved her hands further up Hope’s body. Hope nodded into Josie as she released her hands from around the girl’s neck and moved them to her own waist to remove her vest top and threw it on the floor in the middle of the room, she had already taken her bra off. Hope leaned in to place her lips back on Josie’s, but the brunette stopped it. _“Why did you stop?”_ Hope pouted.

 _“Because I want to look at you.”_ Josie winked. Her hands started to wander across Hope’s half naked body. Her fingers danced lightly across the Tribrid’s stomach as they made their way up to her breasts. Both girls moaned at the contact. The Witch palmed the other girl’s breasts before she took both of her nipples in between her fingers. She rolled the little nubs gently then started to apply more pressure. Hope moaned as she bent her head down and claimed Josie’s lips in her own. Their kiss was passionate, desperate and feverish. Hope broke it to get some air but as she tried to return Josie had a different idea. She dropped her hands from the Tribrid’s breasts and placed them on the side of Hope’s body, as she bent her own knees causing the girl on top of her to shift upwards and she needed to use her arms to balance herself on the sofa. Josie placed her hands onto Hope’s shorts as she lowered herself down on the sofa until her face was in line with the Tribrid’s nipples and took the left one in her mouth.

Hope moaned at the sensation of the warm tongue flicking against her nipple. Josie loved hearing the other girl moan, it caused her to lightly graze the nipple with her teeth, biting it slightly before she opened her mouth wider to take more of Hope’s breast in her mouth as she moved her hands into the back of Hope’s shorts, feeling her bare ass. Hope’s head dropped and rested on top of Josie’s, she moaned loudly at the hold the Witch has on her, she could feel herself starting to get wet, all she wanted right now was for Josie’s fingers to be inside her. Josie giggled as she released the Tribrid’s left breast from her mouth and moved onto the right one. She gave this one the same treatment and she started to drag her nails against Hope’s ass.

Neither Hope or Josie heard Alaric come down the stairs as they were too enthralled with each other. _“Oh God! Hope?”_ Alaric yelled.

 _“Oh shit!”_ Hope responded as she threw herself over the back of the sofa.

 _“JOSIE!?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”_ Alaric was pissed.

Josie’s face turned bright red. _“Hi, Dad.”_

_“Hope, what are you doing to my daughter?”_

_“Technically I wasn’t doing anything TO your daughter… She was doing it to me. And anyways you’re always telling me to make connections with people!”_ Hope called from behind the sofa. _“Can you pass me my top please Josie?”_

_“Oh GOD! I did not need to hear that! And I meant friends! Make friends! Not sleep with my daughter! God.”_

Josie hurried off the sofa, picked up Hope’s top and passed it over the back of the sofa. Hope rushed to put it on before she finally stood up.

 _“Hi, Dr Saltzman.”_ Hope bit her bottom lip and awkwardly waved at him. She shook her head and dropped her gaze. _‘Why did I just do that?’_ Hope was kicking herself internally.

 _“When did… this… happen? And Josie I thought you were dating Landon.”_ Alaric asked as he gestured between the two girls.

Hope and Josie looked at each other, both their eyes grew wide.

 _“Ermmm, I don’t know how to answer that.”_ Hope stated.

 _“I broke up with Landon.”_ Josie shrugged.

 _“Wait, what? When? Actually, I don’t even want to know, forget I ever asked… But Josie, what are you doing here at…”_ Alaric pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. _“At 12:13 on a school night?”_ Alaric shook his head.

 _“I came to see Hope, clearly.”_ Josie tried to avoid eye contact.

 _“Okay, well you need to get back to school, before you get in trouble. Come on I’ll drive you. Hope you’re staying here.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“I’m not going back to school tonight! I never do anything for myself! I’m either having to sort you out or Lizzie out. This is something that **I** wanted! I need to do me for once!”_ Josie was really passionate about this. But Hope’s laughter broke her train. Josie turned and punched her in the arm. Hope held her hands up in defeat, but she started laughing again. _“I will kill you if you don’t stop laughing.”_ Josie scowled.

 _“Awe I’m sorry baby. I’ll stop now.”_ Hope leaned in and kissed her.

 _“Oh God! Stop that! I don’t need to see that.”_ Alaric groaned, rubbed his head then stomped to the kitchen.

 _“Oops.”_ Hope said as she pulled a face. Josie snickered slightly.

 _“He’ll be fine. He’ll calm down. He reacted the same way when he walked in on me and Penelope.”_ Josie shrugged as she kissed Hope. _“Are you going to come and sit down?”_

 _“Erm… I feel safer behind the sofa.”_ Hope chuckled.

_“Awe sweetie. You’re a badass Tribrid, I know you could probably take him down.”_

_“Yeah, I’ve done it plenty of times.”_ Hope winked, then finally decided to move from behind the sofa. She sat down next to Josie and took her hand in her own. Alaric came into the living room with a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa opposite them. Staring at them, sipping his coffee. Classic overprotective dad move style.

After about five minutes of silence Alaric finally spoke. _“Fine, you don’t have to go back to school tonight, but you will go back in the morning. I’ll drive you before I take Hope.”_

 _“Erm well, MG was going to meet me for Lunch at the Grill, and we were going to walk back to school together.”_ Josie protested.

 _“And I’m guessing that you won’t be coming to school either?”_ Alaric glared at Hope.

 _“I was going to find somewhere safe where I can wolf out.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“I’m not going to win this am I? Just don’t rush into anything. You don’t know each other, and I don’t want either of you getting hurt.”_ Alaric shook his head. He stood up and headed back upstairs.

Hope waited until Alaric was out of earshot before she turned to Josie and said _“That turned me on so much. I wish I could show you just how much.”_

Josie looked shocked. _“You got turned on by my dad?”_

 _“Oh God no. Why do you still think that I’m attracted to your dad? I mean, I got turned on by what you did to me and then slightly more when we got caught… It was the same earlier when you kissed me in front of Maya. I just wanted to… take you right there.”_ Hope bit her lip and her eyes turned black as she stared at Josie’s soft plump lips.

 _“Hmmph. You are such a tease. And it was kind of… thrilling, having someone watch.”_ Josie’s eyes also turned black. They both couldn’t take it anymore. They needed the contact. Their kiss was feverish but passionate. Their hands were all over each other. Hope pulled Josie on top on her and started to tug at her shirt. Josie moaned at the touch. Hope pulled Josie’s shirt over her head and threw it on the floor, next to them. The redhead fumbled at the clasp of the brunette’s bra; it didn’t take long for the clasp to ping open. Josie moaned but then sat up, breaking their kiss.

She placed her right arm across her chest to keep the bra in place and her left hand rested on Hope’s stomach. She looked down at Hope lying underneath her, _“I **really** hate to do this but… My dad is right. We don’t really know each other… Well I don’t know you. But I really want too. And I don’t want… this to end. I just don’t want to do something we will both regret. Let’s just take it slow?”_

 _“I get it. I honestly do. I’ve never been with a woman before, so this is all new to me. But I care about you so much and I want to make you happy… Hopefully in more ways than one, someday. And I respect you, wholeheartedly. You guide me okay?”_ Hope took Josie’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze, then she helped her put her bra back on. The redhead steadied the brunette’s waist as she sat up. They shared a chaste kiss. _“Let’s go up to bed, yeah? It’s getting late now.”_ Hope smiled as Josie stood up. Josie picked up her shirt and held her hand out for Hope. Hope took it and they walked upstairs.

 _“I’m just going to use the bathroom. You go ahead. I’ll be in in a few.”_ Hope smiled. And Josie walked into the bedroom. Hope entered the bathroom and used the toilet. She washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror. _“You’ve got this. You love her. You will make her happy.”_ She shook her head then wandered to the bedroom.

Josie had gotten changed and settled into her bed. She looked peaceful. Hope smiled, switched the lights off and headed towards Lizzie’s bed. _“You know, Hope, you can sleep next to me. I don’t bite… That comes later.”_ Josie chuckled slightly.

Hope grinned to herself as she changed direction and joined Josie in her bed. Hope climbed over the top of her and rolled in against the wall. Josie scooted closer to Hope, facing her and wrapped her arm around her. _“Thank you for today baby. I really enjoyed it. Maya seems nice… Is she gay by any chance?”_

_“It’s okay baby. And I think she is. She did try and hit on me the first day of school. I was flattered that someone actually noticed me, but she’s not my type. And I told her as much, she didn’t mind. She was grateful that I was honest. And well we’ve been friends ever since.”_

Josie tapped Hope slightly. _“What do you mean she’s not your type? She’s absolutely stunning. And if we weren’t doing… this, then I’d definitely… be too afraid to talk to her.”_ She laughed slightly as she shook her head.

 _“You’re my type. What do you mean, you’d be too afraid to talk to her? You seemed fine today.”_ Hope placed a hand on Josie’s cheek.

 _“Well, you were there. You make me feel safe.”_ Josie leaned in and kissed Hope. _“Thanks for being you.”_

Hope beamed. _“You’re welcome baby, but I’m not that special.”_

 _“Yes, you are. Never doubt yourself okay? My God, you are so warm. Hmm.”_ Josie mused.

 _“It’s the wolf blood in me.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Well I love it.”_ Josie buried her face into Hope’s neck and shortly fell asleep. Hope waited until the other girl fell asleep before she did.

***

The girls woke up naturally around 9:30am. Hope was slightly alarmed by the fact that there was a half-sleeping girl lying up against her. It took her a few seconds to realise that it was okay and that she was safe.

 _“Morning beautiful.”_ Josie softly spoke in her sleepy daze, she shuffled closer into Hope’s body.

 _“Morning baby, sleep well?”_ Hope shivered as she felt Josie’s breath on her neck.

 _“I did. One of my best nights in a long time. You?”_ Josie kissed Hope’s neck, causing Hope to shiver again. Josie smiled at the reaction, so she did it again.

 _“I definitely did. Ugghh, you need to stop doing that.”_ Hope groaned as she forced her eyes closed.

 _“You’re gunna have to stop me.”_ Josie smirked before she started leaving a trail of kisses along the left side of Hope’s neck, leading from her collarbone up to her ear and back down again. After she did 2 laps, she stopped leaving kisses and started to roll her tongue across the Tribrid’s skin. Josie heard Hope growl… actually growl. _“Mmmh. Sexy.”_ Josie laughed. She forced Hope onto her back and straddled her lap. She lent down and gave the same treatment to the right side of Hope’s neck.

Hope tried her hardest not to give in, but as soon as she felt Josie’s warm tongue roll along the right side of her neck, she grabbed Josie’s waist and flipped her over. _“Oh shit.”_ Josie squealed. Hope’s eyes turned golden; she was so turned on. Hope was feverish, she copied Josie’s movements except she took it a step further and gently bit the nape of the right side of the brunette’s neck. _“Oh God... Hope…”_ Josie’s hands found their way onto Hope’s waist and started moving up her vest. Hope allowed it for a short while as she was a bit too preoccupied with devouring the Witch’s neck. It was only when she felt Josie’s soft fingers graze against her underboob, that she decided to put a stop to it. She grabbed hold of Josie’s wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand. _“That’s not fair….”_ Josie only just managed to breathe out.

 _“You got to play last night… Now it’s my turn.”_ Hope stared into her eyes, took a deep inhale then placed an intense and passionate kiss on Josie’s lips. Josie moaned lowly into Hope’s mouth. Hope’s tongue found its way into Josie’s mouth with a welcoming grin. After a few minutes of enthralled kissing, Hope stopped it. She released her hand from Josie’s wrists and trailed her hands down the sides of the brunette’s body and inched the girls top up. She dropped her head and started to kiss along Josie’s naval. She left a stream of kisses up her lover’s body. Just before Hope reached Josie’s breasts, she stopped and sat up. _“Do I have your permission?”_ Hope asked.

Josie nodded frantically.

 _“I need you to verbalise it okay? Because after what we talked about last night, about taking it slow. I want to be sure that you are okay with this.”_ Hope smile was genuine, she respected this girl that was currently lying underneath her.

 _“Yes. You have my permission. Wholeheartedly. Will you kiss me now?”_ Josie beamed as she took her top off, leaving her bare chest exposed.

Hope smiled back at her before she lent down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips before she shuffled herself back down the brunette’s body and picked up right where she left off. Hope kissed in between Josie’s perfect breasts while she took the girls nipples between her fingers. A loud moan escaped from Josie. Hope smiled at the sound before she moved her head over to Josie’s right breast. She rolled her tongue over it, flicking it, before she took her nipple in between her teeth and tugged it slightly before she sucked it into her mouth, her warm tongue danced seductively over the sensitive little nub. _“Hmmmppphhh. Oh God… Hope.”_ Josie’s breathing was becoming quicker with every passing minute and motion she felt against her body. Hope released the right nipple and moved her way onto the left one and gave it the same treatment. After about five minutes Hope let the nipple fall from her mouth and she smiled at the sweaty, red-faced brunette lying underneath her.

Hope leaned down and kissed Josie again, she placed her hands on the brunette’s cheeks and lifted her up to sitting, she wrapped her legs around the other girl’s waist, pulling her closer. _“I am so attracted to and turned on by you right now, so much more than usual. I’m so happy to be here with you right now.”_ Hope whispered in her lover’s ear.

 _“Oh God. You are so hot and honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been… dry… since I first saw you get off the coach on Saturday. Your body is amazingly beautiful, and I never want to stop touching you or watching you… Okay that sounds slightly creepy, BUT I am deeply and madly attracted to you.”_ Josie lifted Hope’s face and looked right into her ocean blue eyes. _“I could get lost in your eyes.”_ Hope smiled at Josie’s statement and she kissed her again.

 _“Okay, I need to ask you something, before we go any further… Will you be my girlfriend?”_ Hope’s voice quivered slightly.

 _“Aww baby, why are you nervous?”_ Josie kissed each of Hope’s cheek and her forehead, before she looked in Hope’s eyes again. _“I will happily be your girlfriend.”_ Josie kissed her lips, tongue included.

 _“Okay, so here’s my other question… Can you teach me how you managed to do that thing with the vibrator?”_ Hope’s eyes turned golden again as she recalled the images from Josie pounding herself with the purple toy. Her heart skipped a beat and she bit her own lip.

 _“What thing? And I still can’t believe you watched me use it. I still can’t believe that I didn’t know that you were watching me. And I still can’t believe that I moaned your name.”_ Josie shook her head as she smiled.

 _“I want you to teach me how you can thrust the vibrator inside yourself without even looking. It must have come out on at least five separate occasions and you flawlessly thrusted it back inside like nothing happened… And what can I say? I love to watch. I actually pleasured myself as I watched you. I came as soon as you moaned my name. I just wanted to… do it for you. I wished it was my hand on the vibrator and not yours. Oh God. I am so turned on right now just thinking about it.”_ Hope bit her own lip before she pulled Josie into another passionate kiss.

 _“Oh God. You are soo hot right now.”_ Josie’s eyes turned black. _“Get it out of the drawer.”_

Hope had a surprised look on her beautiful face. _“Are you sure?”_

 _“A thousand percent sure. Get it. Now.”_ Josie husked.

Hope couldn’t have moved any quicker if she tried. She jumped off the bed and moved straight to the drawer and pulled the vibrator out. Her face beamed so brightly as Josie’s face flushed red. She jumped right back into her spot facing Josie.

 _“Have you ever used a vibrator before?”_ Josie asked.

 _“You’re kidding me, right?”_ Hope laughed. _“I used yours the day after I found it. Don’t worry I washed it loads, before and after.”_ Hope placed a quick kiss on Josie’s lips. _“One thing that has bothered me slightly though is… Why is it here? Why isn’t it at school with you?”_

Josie’s face flushed red again. _“Erm, I used to come here when I needed space from Lizzie or my Dad. It was like my secret little spot that no-one really knew about. Apart from…”_

 _“Penelope?”_ Hope raised her eyebrow in intrigue.

Josie frowned… _“How do you know that name? … Oh yeah, sorry...”_ Josie shook her head.

Hope grinned and kissed Josie. _“I’m just going to keep doing that, talking about things that you think I shouldn’t know about because it’s fun to watch you try and figure out how I know it.”_ They kissed again.

 _“I hate you.”_ Josie stated with the biggest grin on her face.

 _“I hate you too baby.”_ Hope said as she powered on the vibrator. Josie giggled and blushed. _“How do you want to do this?”_

 _“Take your shorts off.”_ Josie exclaimed, with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

 _“Will you help me?”_ Hope winked as she placed the vibrator on the bed next to them, leaned forward, lifting her hips away from her legs and kissed the other girl. Josie’s hands found their way onto Hope’s ass as she placed her thumbs in the waistband and slowly dragged them down her thighs, slowly caressing and squeezing Hope’s perfect ass as she did. Hope moaned into Josie’s mouth as she felt the contact on her bare ass. Hope pushed her legs straight and shimmied the shorts the rest of the way to her ankles before she sat back down again, pulling the shorts off with her own hand. Never once breaking her kiss with Josie.

 _“Take your top off and wrap your legs around me.”_ Josie was seductive in her tone, but she was straight to the point; she knew what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it. Hope wholeheartedly followed the younger girl’s direction.

Hope wrapped her legs around Josie and the brunette picked up the vibrator and brought it down to Hope’s wet centre. Hope moaned as the cold toy vibrated against her over-sensitive bundle of nerves, she leaned into Josie and slightly bit her neck. As Josie started to move the toy against Hope, both of their phones rang.

 _“Fuck, just ignore them.”_ Hope growled. Josie laughed.

 _“We can’t baby. It’s MG and Maya. MG will freak if I don’t answer. He will probably ring my dad if he can’t get hold of me.”_ Josie turned off the vibrator, kissed Hope before she handed her the phone.

 _“Fine. But I will kill them both. I’ll take my call in the hallway.”_ Hope grumbled as she got up from the bed and headed to the door.

** Hope and Maya’s call: **

_Hope: You have some pretty shitty timing Maya._

_Maya: (laughs) Hello to you to. You haven’t come into school, you said you were going to text me and let me know what was happening._

_Hope: Yeah well, I was just about to get fucked by a vibrator before you phoned me._

_Maya: So, I’m literally cock-blocking you then? (laughs)_

_Hope: Yes, you are you bitch. Now what do you want?_

_Maya: Well it’s 11am and I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch… but if your busy, then I guess not._

_Hope: I can meet you at 1:30pm at the Grill, if that’s okay with your highness?_

_Maya: That’s perfect. Will Josie be joining us?_

_Hope: I dunno let me ask her. (To Josie: Do you wanna grab some food at the Grill with Maya?)_

_(Josie: Erm, what time? Because I’ve gotta meet MG at 1:30pm)_

_Hope (to Josie): Yeah, that’s okay ‘cause that’s what time Maya will be there._

_(Josie: Oh, that should be okay then. Will she be cool with MG joining?)_

_Hope: Will you be cool with Josie’s friend joins us?_

_Maya: Yeah, I’m cool with that._

_Hope (to Josie): Yeah, she’s fine with it baby._

_Hope: Okay so we’re all agreed. See you at 1:30pm_

_Maya: Awe, why don’t you call me baby?_

_Hope: Because you do shit like this. Right I need to get back to my sexy lover, I’ll see you later, asshole._

_Maya: Bye sweet._

Hope leaned against the wall after she ended the call with Maya. She was anguished by the thought of what had just happened with Josie and about the fact that Josie was more than willing to use the vibrator on her. And she really wanted it to happen, but she was also really nervous. She really wanted her first time with Josie to be special. So, she decided right then that she wasn’t going to take things any further today. She wanted Josie to know the real her. In all honesty, she just wanted Josie to remember her, but she knew that would never happen. Hope shook her head and forced herself back to standing.

** Josie and MG’s call: **

_Josie: Hey MG, what’s up?_

_MG: You haven’t texted me about our plans, I’ve sent you like 6 messages. I got worried so I thought I’d ring you to make sure you weren’t dead._

_Josie: You’re sweet, but I’m not dead. I’ve just been… busy._

_MG: OH! Are you still with Hope?_

_Josie: Yeah. We’re at my Dad’s. We stayed here last night._

_MG: Oh okay, so your safe then?_

_Josie: Yes MG, I’m safe._

_MG: Okay. Cool, Cool. So, I can meet you around 1:30pm if that’s still the plan?_

_Josie: Yeah, that’s fine. At the Grill?_

_MG: Yeah._

_Josie: One minute, MG. (Hope to Josie: Do you wanna grab some food at the Grill with Maya?)_

_Josie (to Hope): Erm, what time? Because I gotta meet MG at 1:30pm_

_(Hope: Yeah, that’s okay ‘cause that’s what time Maya will be there.)_

_Josie (to Hope): Oh, that should be okay then. Will she be okay with MG joining?_

_(Hope: Yeah, she’s fine with it baby.)_

_Josie: Okay MG. Hope’s friend will be joining us as well._

_MG: Ooo, is she hot?_

_Josie: Who Hope? Yeah, she is._

_MG: (laughs) No, I mean her friend._

_Josie: Oooo, yeah, she is. But I thought you were still crushing on Lizzie?_

_MG: Well, she’s a bit preoccupied with Sebastian these days, she doesn’t notice me._

_Josie: Don’t give up MG. You’ll find your one, one day._

_MG: Thanks Jose. Right, I’ll let you get back to Hope and I’ll see you both later._

_Josie: See you soon MG._

_***_

Hope walked back into the bedroom when she heard Josie end the call with MG, she walked over to her and sat down on the bed, facing the other girl.

 _“Hey, I missed you.”_ Josie stated with a smile.

 _“Sure, you did.”_ Hope laughed as she leaned and placed a simple kiss on Josie’s lips. Hope shook her head as she said, _“I think I need a shower before we get ready. I’m a mess.”_

 _“I need a shower too. Why don’t you use the main one, and I’ll just use my Dad’s? We’ll be done in no time.”_ Josie placed a hand on Hope’s cheek.

 _“Okay, whoever finishes first makes breakfast.”_ Hope chuckled as she winked. Hope placed a kiss on Josie’s forehead before she stood up and headed towards the dresser to get some clothes. She gathered her clothes then ventured to the bathroom. Hope was in and out of the shower in no time. She didn’t want to dwell on the events of the morning. Once she was finished getting dressed, she headed downstairs to start making the coffee and some breakfast for them both.

Josie, however, took slightly longer. Her thoughts were spinning. She wasn’t completely sure what had just happened. She knew that she was just about to have sex with Hope for the first time and Hope really wanted it to happen. **She** really wanted it to happen as well. But after the phone calls, Hope’s demeanor changed, it seemed like she wasn’t willing anymore. Josie wanted to question her about it, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. When Josie had finished showering, she got out of the shower and looked at herself in the mirror. It was the first time she had seen the state of her neck. Hope had given her several hickeys along her collarbone and up the right side of her neck. Josie’s fingers lightly danced over them as she recalled the experience. She smiled then got dressed before she joined Hope downstairs. When she arrived, Hope was just finishing off making an omelette for them both. She had laid out the plates and poured two fresh cups of coffee. Josie walked over to Hope who was stood at the stove and pulled her into a hug from behind. _“Hey are you okay?”_

 _“Erm, yeah. I’m fine, are you?”_ Hope nodded.

 _“Yeah I’m good… I just wanted to ask… What happened upstairs?”_ Josie was feeling nervous.

Hope tapped her hand as a signal to release her arms from around her waist, Josie complied. Hope picked up the frying pan and divided the contents between the two plates. Hope walked around to the other side of the kitchen island and sat down in front of a plate. Josie just stood and stared at her, waiting for her to speak.

Hope finally breathed out. _“I just had… second thoughts I guess.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“What do you mean, you had second thoughts? Why didn’t you tell me about it? I want you to talk to me.”_ Josie finally moved to join Hope on the other side of the island. She sat down next to the redhead and looked at her.

Hope stopped eating and stared straight ahead. She dropped her knife and fork on the plate and breathed. _“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to be upset with me.”_

 _“why would I be upset?”_ Josie looked confused.

 _“I thought you’d be upset with me because I changed my mind about having sex with you.”_ Hope had absentmindedly picked up her fork and tightened her grip on it. Josie noticed and hesitated slightly before she placed her own hand on top of Hope’s.

 _“I am not upset with you because you didn’t want to have sex. I just wished you would have told me. I have been panicking. I thought I had done something wrong. Because I know that last night, I said I wanted to take things slow and then this morning I wanted to have sex with you. I’m sorry if you received mixed signals from that.”_ Josie sad eyes started to well up.

 _“No. Oh baby, no. It’s definitely nothing you did… It’s just after my call with Maya. It just got me thinking. As much as I want to have sex with you right now. It’s not fair on you. I know pretty much everything there is to know about you, but you don’t know anything about me. And that doesn’t sit well with me. I want you to know me, the real me, before we…”_ Hope trailed off as she dropped her head.

Josie smiled as she moved her hand from Hope’s up to her face. She pulled on Hope’s jaw slightly causing it to turn and face her. _“Hope, you are so beautiful and caring and thoughtful. And I will wait, we will wait… until you’re ready. Okay?”_ Josie leaned in and kissed her. Josie finally started eating her breakfast after that. She felt like a weight had been lifted.

The two girls ate their breakfast then moved over to the sofa. Hope had made them both a fresh coffee and brought them with her. They sat down next to each other and talked for a while before Hope got a text.

**Maya:** _You finished having sex yet? Because you’ve got an hour before you have to meet me ;) x_

**Hope:** _Fuck you. And we will be leaving soon. Hahaha x_

**Maya:** _Oh you wish you could ;) And good. I’m starving x_

Hope just shook her head as she placed her phone back in the pocket before she turned to face Josie. _“Are you ready to go?”_

 _“Yeah just about. I’m kinda nervous though. What with MG meeting you and Maya…”_ Josie twisted her lips slightly.

 _“It’ll be fine. I’ll text Maya and tell her to behave. It will be fine.”_ Hope squeezed Josie’s hand before she stood up, pulling Josie up with her. _“Come on. It’s going to be okay.”_ Hope smiled.

Josie groaned slightly. _“If we leave, it means we have to go back to the real world. And it means that I have to go back to school as well.”_ Josie pulled the shorter girl into a hug.

 _“We will see each other again. Why don’t you come around at the weekend and we’ll do something? We can spend the whole weekend together if you want. I might… MIGHT even let you watch Rent.”_ Hope laughed.

The girls put their shoes on, picked up their bags and headed out the door. Hope locked the door and took Josie’s hand in her own as they walked to the Grill, they talked the whole way. Well, Hope talked, and Josie listened. Josie loved it; she was finally getting to know more about Hope.


	9. I Just Want You to Be Happy

Chapter 9- I Just Want You to Be Happy.

Hope and Josie were the first ones to arrive at the Grill. They found their little booth and sat down. MG was the first to arrive. He greeted them as he sat down. A few minutes later Maya arrived. She made some comment about being fashionably late as she winked at Hope. Hope just shook her head.

The four of them sat and ate together. Their conversation was pleasant and nothing supernatural came up which was a relief to both Hope and Josie. Maya only made a handful of sexual comments regarding the other two girls’ relationship, which weren’t without their fair share of punches in return, mostly from Hope but some from Josie as well. It was around 3pm when MG mentioned to Josie that they should be heading back to campus. Josie didn’t really want to go, but she agreed. She stood up and slid out from the table. Hope followed then pulled Josie into a hug.

 _“I think I’m going to miss you.”_ Josie whispered.

 _“I’m going to miss you too. But like I said earlier. Come around at the weekend and we’ll plan something, if you want.”_ Hope moved away slightly and kissed Josie. Their kiss was feverish and deep, with a lot of tongue. It made MG slightly uncomfortable, but it turned Maya on. MG was the first one to say something.

 _“Jose, I think it’s really time to head back now.”_ MG pulled his lips together and nodded slightly.

 _“Yeah okay MG.”_ Josie shook her head slightly. _“I’ll see you soon beautiful.”_

 _“Yeah, I’ll see you soon baby. You know, I wouldn’t totally hate it if you called me.”_ Hope winked.

 _“Bye.”_ Josie grinned before she turned around and headed out the Grill with MG.

Hope sat back down at the table and groaned, dropping her head to the table.

 _“What’s gotten into you?”_ Maya laughed.

 _“It’s just… I don’t know if I’ve messed things up between us already. I asked her to be my Girlfriend this morning and she said yes. Then we were going to… But you called. Then we didn’t… and she said she was fine with it, but I don’t actually know. I mean I wanted to, I really wanted to, but I told her that I wanted us to get to know each other first.”_ Hope groaned again.

 _“Oh wow. That’s super gay.”_ Maya laughed. Hope finally lifted her head up from the table and punched Maya in the arm.

_“You need to stop hitting me. My mom might think I’m getting attacked at school.”_

_“I’ll stop hitting you when you stop saying stupid shit.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“I’ll just tell her that it’s from football.”_ Maya chuckled. _“No, but honestly. I think it’s really sweet that you want to get to know each other first. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt. You look really cute together.”_ Maya smiled.

Hope blushed. _“I know, I don’t want to hurt her either. I really don’t.”_

Hope and Maya moved their conversation on. Hope mentioned that she was thinking about going to see Ethan later. Obviously, she never told Maya the real reason why she wanted to see him, but she said that it was fine to go and visit and that she would go with her. So, that’s what they did. They left the Grill and headed over to the hospital. Ethan was in a room of his own. Perks of being the sheriff’s son. They all chatted for a while before Hope excused herself to get a drink, she brought a drink for the other two as well. Hope had picked up a knife from behind the nurse’s station when nobody was looking. She found a quiet room and uncapped Ethan’s drink. She cut along her palm and let the blood trickle out, she repeated this about 5 times before she had spilt enough of her blood into his cup. She re-capped the drink and picked it up making sure she kept it in her left hand, so she didn’t get it mixed up with the other two drinks.

Ethan was grateful to have something from a coffee machine rather than the hospital’s crappy coffee. Most humans can’t taste blood when it’s mixed in their drinks, it’s only a few rare people that can, luckily for Hope, Ethan is not one of those people. Ethan finished his drink in no time. Hope sweetly smiled at him before she got up and told them that she had to go. Ethan and Maya both gave Hope a hug and Maya said that she would text her later. Hope smiled then left.

***

Josie and MG’s walk back to the school was long. It took almost 2 hours because Josie wanted to take her time, she didn’t really want to go back to school and have to see Landon or Lizzie. She just wanted to run back to Hope and never leave her side, but she knew that wasn’t an option. So, she begrudgingly trudged next to MG. She wanted to talk to MG about what had happened, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. She kept groaning to herself as she walked.

 _“What’s the matter? You’ve been groaning for about half an hour but haven’t actually said anything.”_ MG mused.

 _“I don’t know if I should tell you or not… But I know I can’t talk to Lizzie about this because she will just freak out. But I don’t know if I should tell you or not. And I don’t know if it’s my place to say.”_ Josie debated with herself out loud.

 _“Well I won’t say anything, you know I’m not like that.”_ MG shrugged.

 _“Okay.”_ Josie didn’t say anything for another five minutes or so, but she finally stopped walking and sat down at the side of the road. MG came and joined her. She groaned again and dropped her head. _“Okay, so there is something about Hope that I haven’t told you. Partly because it’s not really my place to say anything but also because I don’t know what I should do about it… But basically. She used to go to our school. We’ve known her for ages. I’ve known her for about 10 years apparently. But we don’t remember any of it… Remember a few months ago when my Dad took off to go and find Landon at Triad headquarters? No one knows how he got there, or how he closed the portal… Well it was Hope that closed the portal. She’s a Tribrid. It is only her blood that can close it. But because her vampire side hasn’t been activated, it didn’t work properly, so Malivore essentially kicked her out. But when she got back, everyone had already forgotten her. She was living in a Motel for 2 months before she moved in with my Dad. She told him everything that had happened. And I really want to remember everything about her, the good and the bad. But also, a part of me doesn’t want to, because I want to get to know her now, without the past… complicating things. Like, she knows things about me that I haven’t told anyone before and it’s confusing because she will just bring it up without her realising and it freaks me out. I just don’t know what to do.”_

 _“Wow. That’s a lot. What’s a Tribrid? Why hasn’t she come back to school if she’s a supernatural?”_ MG looked astounded.

 _“Oh erm, basically she’s a Witch, Werewolf and a Vampire. And I heard her talking to Alaric about it on Sunday, apparently, she finds it too hard to be around everyone when they don’t remember who she is. So, she said she wanted a fresh start. That’s why she goes to Mystic Falls High School. It’s better for her to be around people who don’t know her, and she doesn’t know them.”_ Josie sounded slightly upset when she spoke.

 _“Oh okay. Well at the end of the day Josie it’s up to you to decide. I can’t tell you what you need to do. Talk to Hope. See what she wants, because her answer might surprise you. From watching you both today I can see that she really cares about you and she doesn’t want to hurt you either. Trust her.”_ MG pulled Josie into a sideways hug. Josie started to cry. _“You’ll be okay Josie. You’ll know what to do when the time is right. Just trust yourself.”_ MG placed a simple kiss on her forehead, before he stood up, he stretched out his hand and pulled Josie up to standing. They arrived back at the school just after 5pm, so they headed straight to the dining room for dinner.

***

The rest of the week dragged on for both girls. They talked for hours on the phone every night. Soon enough Friday came around. Josie was excited to see Hope, they had made plans for the whole weekend. Obviously, Josie had to spend some time with Alaric. He called it ’ _Father-Daughter bonding’._ When he told Josie that, she just rolled her eyes, but she begrudgingly agreed to it. It was only for a couple of hours though. After the lessons had ended for the day, Josie rushed up to her room and packed a bag. Alaric was coming to pick her up at 5:30pm.

She changed out of her school clothes and put on a blue V-neck t-shirt, black shorts, a pair of converse and a black jacket. She put on a small amount of makeup and checked her hair before she headed out the school to meet Alaric on the drive.

Alaric drove Josie to the Grill, and they had something to eat. Alaric talked to Josie and apologised for his behaviour last week. He said that he didn’t have any excuse for his actions and that he is sorry for the way he treated her. He also said that it wasn’t her responsibility to always take care of him or Lizzie. Josie said that she would stop taking care of him when he gets his drinking under control. He promised he would. They finished their meals and headed back to the house.

Hope was sat on the sofa when Alaric and Josie walked in. Hope stood up when she saw her, she hesitated slightly before she moved, meeting Josie in the middle of the room. Hope pulled her into a hug and kissed her. _“I’ve missed you.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“I missed you too.”_ Josie replied.

Alaric cleared his throat as he stared at the girls. _“Okay, if you’re here all weekend Josie, we’re going to need some ground rules. I don’t really want a repeat of Monday.”_

Hope and Josie parted slightly and turned to face Alaric.

 _“Okay, number 1: No kissing in front of me. I don’t need to see that. Number 2: If you are going to do that please do it outside or in your room. And number 3: And if you do… whatever it is you do… don’t do it on the sofa. I have to sit on there.”_ Alaric shook his head.

Josie’s face blushed red and Hope nodded.

 _“Okay then. I’m glad we’ve cleared that up. Now I’m going to go upstairs and watch some sports.”_ Alaric shook his head then proceeded upstairs.

 _“Well that was awkward.”_ Hope laughed when Alaric was out of earshot.

 _“Tell me about it.”_ Josie shook her head before she sat down on the sofa. _“So, what do you want to do tonight?”_

 _“Erm, I’m not that bothered. Why don’t we just watch a film for a bit?”_ Hope smiled as she joined Josie on the sofa.

 _“Do you want to pick a DVD out or shall we just use Netflix?”_ Josie asked.

 _“Just put Netflix on. I’m not too bothered. I’m just happy that you’re here.”_ Hope leaned in and gave Josie a quick kiss on her cheek.

Josie blushed. _“I’m happy that I’m here too.”_ Josie picked up the remote and turned the TV on. She flicked through Netflix and found something semi-decent. She leaned into Hope’s body and got comfy.

Hope wrapped her arms around Josie’s shoulders and pulled her in closer. She loved having the contact of the younger girl against her. She moaned as Josie settled into her. Josie interlocked her fingers with Hope’s and smiled. They both could get used to this.

A couple of hours passed by and they had hardly moved from their position on the sofa. They had watched two films but hadn’t really paid attention to them. They were both just contempt with spending time with each other.

Josie had nodded off to sleep for an hour but woke up around 10pm. She groaned as she shifted her weight into Hope. _“Sorry I fell asleep.”_ She softly spoke.

 _“It’s fine baby, you didn’t miss much anyway.”_ Hope replied as she lightly squoze Josie. _“We should probably head up to bed soon. I have a big day planned for us tomorrow.”_

 _“Ooo, sounds intriguing. What is it?”_ Josie smiled as she sat up and turned to face Hope.

 _“You’ll just have to wait til tomorrow to find out.”_ Hope winked. _“Come on. Let’s go to bed.”_

Josie was the first to move off the sofa, Hope quickly followed, and they headed upstairs. They both got changed and settled into bed next to each other. It didn’t take Josie long to fall asleep again. Hope listened to the sounds of her breath for a while before she eventually fell asleep.

***

The morning came around quickly for Hope. She woke up around 7:30am. Josie was still fast asleep next to her. She placed a simple kiss on the girl’s forehead before she untangled herself and headed to the bathroom. Hope showered then headed back to the bedroom and got dressed then ventured downstairs to make some breakfast for them both. Hope was grateful that Alaric wasn’t awake yet, so she had the kitchen to herself.

Hope cooked a full fry up for Josie. She plated it up and brought it to Josie on a tray, with a cup of coffee. Josie was still sound asleep when Hope entered the room. She placed the tray on the desk and proceeded to gently wake Josie up. _“Morning beautiful.”_ She whispered as she knelt next to the bed to kiss the brunette’s cheek.

Josie groaned slightly as she rolled over in the bed. She stretched out her arm to try and catch Hope’s body next to her. She frowned slightly as she moved her arm against the empty mattress. Hope couldn’t help but smile at her. _“I’m over here baby.”_ She whispered as she ran her hand across Josie’s back. Josie groaned again as she rolled back over to face Hope, she opened her eyes slightly and took in Hope’s smiling face. _“What time is it?”_ Josie sleepily asked.

 _“It’s almost 9am. I’ve made you breakfast.”_ Hope grinned.

_“You are sweet, aren’t you?”_ Josie smiled as she placed her hand on Hope’s neck and stroked her cheek.

 _“It’s only for you. The rest of the time, I’m just the big bad scary wolf.”_ Hope smiled as she placed her own hand on top of Josie’s. She turned her head slightly and kissed the brunette’s palm before she stood up to collect the food tray from the desk and brought it over to the bed. Josie grinned as she pushed herself up to sitting.

 _“Thank you, baby.”_ Josie smiled as she tucked into her breakfast.

 _“It’s okay. I’m going to go back downstairs and tidy up, come down once you’ve got dressed and I’ll tell you what I’ve got planned for today.”_ Hope placed a quick kiss on the brunette’s forehead before she turned and disappeared out the room.

Josie leaned back against the wall and sighed as she brought her coffee cup up to her lips, she smiled as she took a sip. She finished her breakfast in no time at all. She quickly jumped in the shower and then got changed into a red top and a black mid-thigh-length skirt, before she made her way down to Hope.

Hope was sat on the sofa when Josie came down, she took her empty pots over to the sink before she joined Hope on the sofa. _“So, what are we doing today?”_ She asked as she sat down to face Hope.

 _“Well… I thought we could go and watch a film at the cinema then go get something to eat before we head over to the green near the town hall. There’s a music thing on there this evening.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“It sounds like a date…”_ Josie chuckled.

 _“Huh, I guess it does…”_ Hope smiled. _“Josette Saltzman, do you want to go on a date with me?”_

 _“Erm. Can I think about it?”_ Josie laughed. _“I’m joking, of course I will go on a date with you.”_ Josie smiled as she leaned in and kissed Hope.

 _“Oh, good. You had me worried there for a minute.”_ Hope breathed.

 _“Awe sorry baby. I didn’t mean too. So what are we going to watch?”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Good. And Cats? I know how much you love musicals. So I thought I’d take you… Have you seen it yet?”_ Hope asked.

 _“Ooo, no I haven’t seen it yet. I wanted to for ages, but I just didn’t have anyone to go with me.”_ Josie grinned.

 _“Okay, good. Because I booked the tickets a few days ago. I don’t think I could have changed them.”_ Hope laughed. _“The showing is at 12pm so we should probably leave soon.”_

 _“Okay, let me just get my bag and stuff together then we’ll head out?”_ Josie stood, kissed Hope then headed upstairs. She quickly shoved everything she needed into her bag before she headed back down to Hope. _“Right, I’m ready.”_ She stated as she skipped over to the door. Hope soon joined her and they headed outside.

The two girls arrived at the cinema just after 11:30am. Hope brought their snacks and they headed into the screening. Hope managed to sit through the film without falling asleep. She enjoyed musicals, but she wouldn’t actually admit that to anyone. She loved to sing and dance around the room when no one is there. She had to admit though, that some of the songs in this particular musical were quite catchy and she found it hard to stop her foot from tapping along. Obviously, Josie knew all the words, so she was singing along. Hope couldn’t help but smile when she heard Josie sing.

Not long after the film had ended, the girls made their way to the Grill. They found their little booth and sat down next to each other. After they ordered their food, Hope’s right hand made its way onto Josie’s bare thigh. Josie moaned slightly at the contact, before she turned and looked at Hope. _“Are you trying to turn me on?”_ Josie whispered.

 _“Oh, so I have to try now?”_ Hope raised her eyebrow.

Josie blushed and dipped her head slightly. _“No.”_

 _“Good.”_ Hope smiled as she gently started to glide her fingers across the soft skin of Josie’s thigh. _“How did I make you feel the first time I did this?”_

Josie bit her lip as she recalled the thought from last week. _“Well, it shocked me at first… But then when you started to move your hand up, I think… I was wishing… hoping… wanting to see how far you’d actually take it… I, erm, you made me so wet that day. You teased me so much, I just… I lost control of myself. A part of me wished that I hadn’t been so… quick to fall for you, because there is a voice in the back of my head that tells me that you’re going to break my heart one day. But the biggest part of me… Is extremely happy to be here with you, right now. And I’m glad about what has happened between us so far. Yes, you teasing me to the point of turning me on and more… wasn’t great, well it was. But that’s not the point… The point is… I really, really, really enjoyed it and if my dad wasn’t there, then I don’t know what I would have done. Plus it was a really low blow when you basically forced me into kissing you, then you pushed me away and walked out. I’m just glad that I have some self-control left.”_ Josie spoke softly as she placed her hand on top of Hope’s and guided it up her thigh slightly before she leaned into Hope’s neck and nipped it gently.

Hope moaned at the placement of her hand and the feeling of Josie’s teeth on her neck. She could feel the warm heat coming from Josie’s centre. _“You do have a way with words Josie. And I did not force you into kissing me… That was all you’re doing. But it definitely was fun when I pushed you away. It killed me to do it though, because when I felt your soft lips on mine, I was hooked. You are… addicting.”_ Hope shuffled slightly in her seat to release her neck away from Josie’s grip and used her free hand to raise Josie’s chin to face her. She angled her lips to meet Josie’s and kissed her. Hope squeezed the brunette’s thigh, digging her nails in slightly as Josie deepened their embrace.

They were enthralled with each other that they didn’t see the waiter approach with their food. The waiter cleared his throat as he stared at the two girls. Josie squealed slightly and hid her face into Hope’s neck as Hope accepted their food. Hope smiled politely at the waiter as he turned and walked away. _“He’s gone.”_ Hope laughed. _“And that squeal was adorable.”_

Josie slapped Hope’s arm as she pulled her head away from the redhead’s neck. Her cheeks were flushed pink. _“Why do you keep doing that to me?”_ Josie frowned.

 _“Do what to you?”_ Hope asked.

_“You keep putting me in awkward situations.”_

_“Awe hun. It’s adorable that you think I can do that. You do it to yourself. I mean, you didn’t have to attach your teeth to my neck or kiss me back or stick your tongue in my mouth.”_ Hope laughed. _“I thought you said you have self-control.”_

 _“I hate you.”_ Josie frowned.

 _“I hate you too.”_ Hope smiled as she gently squoze Josie’s thigh again before she released her hand and started eating her meal. Josie groaned at the loss of contact but proceeded to eat her own meal.

The girls ate in relative silence and it wasn’t long before they finished. Hope paid and they both headed to the bathroom. Josie was finished first and after she washed her hands, she walked over and locked the door, then proceeded to lean against the stall door waiting for Hope. Hope exited the stall and walked over to the sink. Josie moved in behind Hope and pressed her body up against the redhead, her hands resting on Hope’s waist.

Hope moaned as she felt the pressure of Josie’s hips rest against her ass. She lifted her head and their eyes met through the mirror. Josie shuffled slightly in place as she dropped her head to Hope’s neck, latching down in the same spot as before. She had every intention of giving Hope some hickeys today. She could feel Hope withering underneath her, so she decided it was her turn to have some fun.

Hope gripped hold of the skin as Josie deepened the latch on her neck, she moaned at the sensation. Josie’s right hand snaked up Hope’s top and found its way onto her bra, she tugged on it slightly causing the redhead’s breast to fall out of it. She took Hope’s breast into her hand and rolled the nipple in-between her fingers. Hope’s body reacted to the feeling by thrusting her hips backwards towards Josie. Josie giggled against Hope’s neck at the reaction she caused in her girlfriend.

 _“Fuuccckkkk.”_ Hope moaned loudly and grunted as she shifted her weight onto her right arm. She took her left hand and found the hand Josie had resting on her waist and started to guide it down into her trousers. Josie stopped what she was doing and lifted her head to look at Hope. _“Are you sure?”_

 _“Yes.”_ Hope breathed and she forced her eyes shut.

Josie quickly kissed Hope’s cheek before she returned to her neck and her hand carried on with its journey. Hope had undone the button and zip on her jeans then parted her legs somewhat wider. Josie’s fingers slipped down into Hope’s underwear and found their way into her folds and onto her sensitive little bundle of nerves. Hope’s legs buckled slightly at the experience, luckily Josie’s grip steadied her. _“My God baby, you are so wet.”_ Josie mumbled.

Just as Josie started to circle her fingers around Hope’s clit, someone started knocking on the bathroom door. Hope’s eyes pinged open and her body shot up straight. Josie stopped what she was doing and looked at Hope. _“What should we do?”_ She whispered.

 _“Erm… fuck.”_ Hope groaned. _“We should… stop. We should… leave.”_ Hope dropped her head.

Josie complied, she took her left hand out of Hope’s jeans and her right hand from under Hope’s top. Josie lifted her left hand to her mouth and licked her fingers clean of Hope’s juices. _“You taste… amazing.”_ Josie moaned as she spun Hope around and pushed her up against the wall. She pulled Hope into a deep kiss. Josie heard Hope moan into her mouth as she tasted her juices on Josie’s tongue.

 _“You’re right… I do taste amazing, but I taste even better on your tongue.”_ Hope grinned as she pulled Josie into another kiss. There was another knock at the door, this time it was more forceful. _“Ugh, we should probably leave now. You leave first and I’ll be out in a minute. I need to… freshen up.”_ Hope smiled, quickly kissed Josie and headed back into the stall.

Josie smiled then headed to the door, unlocked it and apologised to the woman standing on the other side. Josie made her way out of the Grill, sat at one of the tables and waited for Hope. Hope didn’t take long to exit the building. She pulled Josie into a hug before they headed over to the green.

It was almost 6pm and it was starting to get busy, people were spilling in from all over the place. Hope and Josie managed to find somewhere to sit. Hope pulled a small blanket out of her backpack and laid it on the ground for her and Josie. Hope stretched her legs out and Josie rested her head on her girlfriend’s thigh. Hope’s phone vibrated in her pocket. _“Hmmm. Did you put a vibrator in your underwear when you were in the bathroom?”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Yes, I secretly carried your vibrator around with me all day. Just waiting for the right moment to use it.”_ Hope laughed as she shifted her weight to get the phone out.

 _“Who’s texting you?”_ Josie smiled.

 _“It’s Maya.”_ Hope replied as she read the message.

**Maya:** _Are you going to that music thingy tonight?x_

_“What does she want?”_ Josie asked.

 _“She wants to know what I’m doing tonight.”_ Hope said as she rested her arm across Josie’s stomach.

 _“Why don’t you ask her to join us?”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Are you sure? Today is meant to be our day.”_ Hope replied.

 _“Yeah, I’m sure. She’s your friend and I want to get to know her. Plus I kinda owe it to her, after what happened on Monday.”_ Josie wriggled into Hope.

 _“Well I sorted that problem out. But I’ll let her know. If your sure?”_ Hope squeezed Josie’s waist.

 _“Yes, I’m sure.”_ Josie replied. Hope nodded then sent a text to Maya.

**Hope:** _Yeah, I’m here with Josie. Come find us x_

**Maya:** _Are you sure? I don’t want to be a third wheel for the incredibly sexy couple ;) x_

Hope laughed at Maya’s response. _“What are you laughing at?”_ Josie asked. Hope showed her Maya’s text. Josie smiled.

**Hope:** _Yeah. We can handle it ;) Josie wants you here anyways. Me? Not so much ;) x_

**Maya:** _Ah, well at least one of you loves me ;) See you soon sweet! x_

_“She’ll be here soon.”_ Hope said as she leaned down and kissed Josie.

 _“Okay.”_ Josie smiled. _“I’ve had a great day today baby. Thank you for taking me out.”_

 _“I’m glad you’ve had a great day. It’s been nice just to do something for the two of us.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“Do you know what type of music they are meant to be playing tonight?”_ Josie asked.

 _“Erm, no I don’t in all honesty. We can leave whenever you want though.”_ Hope replied.

 _“Ah okay. And I don’t really care where we are or what we are doing as long as I’m with you.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“You’re adorable.”_ Hope giggled.

The two girls settled into each other and waited for the music to start. It wasn’t long before Maya turned up.

 _“So, how is my incredibly sexy couple doing?”_ Maya beamed as she sat down next to the girls.

 _“Oh I’m great thanks… I can’t speak for Hope though…”_ Josie raised her eyebrow and giggled. Hope playfully slapped her. _“What was that for? Are you seriously telling me that she doesn’t know what’s going on between us?”_

 _“Oh don’t worry Josie. Hope’s told me all the gory details… I mean, Mr Saltzman catching you both, that was hot.”_ Maya laughed. Hope punched her.

 _“Oh did she tell you what she did when my dad came down the stairs?”_ Josie laughed.

 _“No, what? What did she do?”_ Maya leaned in with intrigue.

 _“She threw herself over the back of the sofa and hid.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Oh no. Did she really?”_ Maya laughed.

 _“Before you both start bad mouthing me whilst I’m sat here… I will say that, I had a perfectly good reason to jump over the sofa. I was practically naked… No thanks to someone…”_ Hope interjected and poked Josie in the stomach.

 _“Awe I’m sorry baby. But you really didn’t seem to mind when it was happening.”_ Josie grinned.

 _“Yeah well I wasn’t expecting your dad to come downstairs! If I had known that then I would have just waited til we went to bed.”_ Hope frowned.

 _“Hmm, sure you would have.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Yeah Hope… You seem like you don’t have control over those… urges.”_ Maya laughed.

 _“You both know nothing of my urges. And I can control them very well. Thank you very much… Unlike someone.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“I’ve already told you I have self-control.”_ Josie whined slightly.

 _“Oh yeah, sure you do. Do I need to mention what happened like 30 minutes ago?”_ Hope raised her eyebrow.

 _“Oooo, now it’s getting juicey.”_ Maya laughed.

 _“You have no idea.”_ Hope and Josie laughed at the same time. Maya laughed.

The night moved on quite quickly for the girls, they all talked, laughed and joked. Hope pretty much got bullied by Josie and Maya all night. They didn’t really pay attention to the music. It was around 10pm when the music stopped playing and people started to leave. Hope, Josie and Maya were one of the last ones left.

 _“What have you got planned for the rest of the weekend then?”_ Maya asked.

 _“Nothing, I’ve gotta go back to school tomorrow.”_ Josie frowned.

 _“I’ll probably take her to school. Then spend the evening with Alaric.”_ Hope shook her head.

 _“You know you can always hide from him. It’s what I try and do.”_ Josie laughed.

_“Yeah but I don’t feel right about it. I mean he’s letting me stay there so… I kinda have to be nice to him.”_

_“Well you can always call me. You know I finish lessons at 4:30pm so I’m free to talk whenever.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“I know baby.”_ Hope leaned down and kissed her.

 _“You two are so gay.”_ Maya laughed.

 _“Oh we know.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Right I should probably get going home before my mom throws a fit. It was lovely to see you again Josie. And Hope, I will see you on Monday? Meet me at the Grill in the morning?”_ Maya smiled.

 _“It was nice to see you again too Maya.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Yeah I can meet you at the Grill. I’ll give you a text Monday morning when I get in from my run.”_ Hope replied.

Maya hugged them both before she got up and left.

Josie forced herself up to sitting and shuffled herself around to face Hope. _“We should probably head back as well.”_

 _“Yeah it is getting quite late. And you never know what vampires are walking around town.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Well if there are any, I have you to protect me. My big bad wolf.”_ Josie giggled as she leaned in and kissed Hope.

 _“I’ll always protect you.”_ Hope smiled as she pulled Josie up to standing. Hope picked up the blanket, folded it and put it back in her bag. _“Are you ready?”_

 _“Yeah. I’m ready.”_ Josie smiled as she took Hope’s hand in her own and they headed back to the house.

It took them about 40 minutes to get back. Alaric was awake and watching TV in the front room when they walked in. He greeted the girls, then turned the TV off and stated that he was going to bed. Hope and Josie just shook their heads as they headed upstairs as well. Josie was the first one to fall asleep and Hope wasn’t far behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter took me longer to post. I wrote the original "chapter 9" almost a week ago, but then I changed my mind and wanted to add this chapter instead. I hope you enjoy it!


	10. We Can Work This Out... Together

Chapter 10- We Can Work This Out… Together.

Sunday was a pretty slow day for the girls. Hope woke up around 7am and went for a run, leaving Josie still sleeping soundly in bed. Hope only ran for about an hour before she decided to head back home. She didn’t want to leave Josie alone for too long, even though she could guarantee that Josie would still be fast asleep when she got back. Except today was different. When Hope arrived back at the house, Josie was stood in the kitchen with her back to Hope.

_“Morning.”_ Hope spoke as she walked through the door.

_“Oh shit.”_ Josie dropped a bowl on the floor, and it smashed. _“You scared me.”_ She frowned as she bent down and picked up the shattered pieces. _“I wondered where you got to. When I woke up, you weren’t there.”_

_“I went for a run. I didn’t want to wake you. What are you doing up this early anyway?”_ Hope smiled as she walked over to Josie.

_“I was trying to make us some breakfast.”_ Josie shook her head as she threw the broken bowl into the bin. 

_“Awe that’s adorable.”_ Hope laughed as she pulled Josie into a hug.

_“Ew, you’re all sweaty.”_ Josie chuckled as she pulled away.

_“I don’t sweat… that much… usually.”_ Hope frowned. _“Must be because I came home and found my amazingly beautiful, gorgeous, sexy girlfriend trying to make breakfast for me, and my hormones just can’t take it.”_ Hope devilishly grinned as she rushed to pick Josie up, wrapped her legs around her waist and walked her over to the sofa, before she threw her down and climbed on top, kissing her.

_“Fuck… I forgot you move fast.”_ Josie giggled as she her head hit the sofa.

_“It’s not the only thing you have forgotten.”_ Hope laughed as she rocked her hips into Josie and leaned in to kiss her again.

Josie moaned as she felt her girlfriend’s weight settle onto her. She placed her hands on the back of Hope’s neck and pulled her closer, deepening their kiss. Josie rolled her tongue over Hope’s bottom lip and slipped it inside the redhead’s warm mouth. Their tongues met and flowed against each other. Josie’s hands found their way into Hope’s vest top and up to her breasts. Hope moaned at the sensation and pulled her own top over her head and threw it across the room, before returning to her previous position.

Josie grinned at her girlfriend’s action. Her hands tugged on the redhead’s sports bra, freeing the breasts trapped inside. Her hands palmed her girlfriend’s breasts before she rolled her fingers over the nipples and tugged them slightly. Hope moaned but then shot up straight. _“Your dad is awake.”_ Hope whispered. She quickly released Josie’s legs from around her and ran to pick her top up. She rushed to put it back on as Alaric started to walk downstairs.

_“Morning girls.”_ Alaric stated. He looked over at Hope, who was stood in the middle of the room looking like a deer caught in headlights, but he didn’t say anything.

_“Morning Dad.”_ Josie smiled shyly.

_“Morning Alaric.”_ Hope waved awkwardly, then shook her head and ran upstairs.

_“What’s wrong with her?”_ Alaric asked.

_“I’m not sure. I’ll go find out.”_ Josie shrugged as she slowly moved herself off the sofa and headed upstairs to find Hope.

When Josie arrived upstairs, she found Hope pacing up and down the bedroom. She hesitated slightly in the doorway before she entered the room, stopping Hope in her tracks. _“Hey, what’s wrong?”_ Josie asked as she pulled Hope into her arms.

_“I just… I don’t know… Argh, God. Why is this so hard?”_ Hope groaned. _“I just feel so… messed up? Confused? Lost?... I don’t know, it just feels like every time we… get close to… you know… something always happens and then I just feel like… shit.”_

_“Why do you feel like shit?”_ Josie quizzed as she pulled away slightly to look at Hope.

_“Because… In the moment, I really want it. I really want you. But then something stops us… And I get time to think… And I feel like shit. Partly because I hate that we got interrupted… but the other part, the bigger part is… It feels like…”_ Hope shook her head. _“It feels like… I’m, erm, taking advantage of you.”_

_“You’re not taking advantage of me… Why would you think that?”_ Josie frowned.

Hope moved away from Josie and sat on the bed, she rubbed her hands on her legs a few times and stared at the floor. It took her a few minutes before she had the courage to speak again. Josie turned to face her when she did. _“Because… I know everything about you. I know about your life and your loves. I know what makes you happy and what makes you cry. I’ve been by your side during some of your worst moments and some of your best ones… I remember when Penelope broke up with you and how you cried for days. I remember when your mom, Josette, buried you alive in the cemetery on your 16 th birthday and how me, MG and Penelope found you because of a talisman I gave you. I remember the first time I ever heard you sing, and I was mesmerised by you. I remember the first time you ever used black magic, you and Lizzie did it to save me and my dad. I remember when you got shot… I have so many memories of you inside my head and it feels so overwhelming at times.” _Hope had started shaking and tears threatened to fall from her eyes. _“I know all this about you, but you don’t remember anything about me. Yes, I can tell you all about me, but that will never replace the memories that you have lost. You don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve experienced. You don’t understand how mad I get and how my anger can take over me without warning. I don’t know if I can keep putting on this… happy face, whenever I’m near you, when sometimes all I want to do is just breakdown and cry. If you remembered me, then you’d know that I don’t get close to people, I don’t let my guard down because I end up getting hurt… Just before I went into Malivore’s pit, we were getting to a good place… we were friends. You were there for me, even when I tried everything to push you away…. I don’t want to… start something that could be based on lies or half-truths. I don’t want to hurt you.”_ Hope wiped away the tears that were falling from her face.

Josie moved and knelt in front of Hope, she placed her hands upon Hope’s knees. _“Listen to me, okay? You are not going to hurt me, and you are not taking advantage of me. Yes, I know that you know everything about me, and I don’t know anything about you. But I want too. I want you to let me in. I want you to show me who you are… You don’t have to put on a happy face for me. Whatever you feel, I want you to talk to me about it. You tell me to trust you… Well now it’s your turn to trust me. I want to remember. I want to know you. I would do anything to get those memories back, because I feel like a part of me is missing, I felt like a part of me has been missing for a while but I could never figure it out…”_ Josie shook her head. _“But I have you now and you have me. I am with you every step of the way, whatever you want to do. I am with you. We can work this out, together.”_ Josie looked up at Hope and tried to wipe the tears from her girlfriend’s face.

Hope pulled her face away from Josie’s hand, she didn’t want to be touched. All she did was stand up and walk out of the room, she ran downstairs and out the door. She wanted to be alone. She needed to be alone. It was what she was used to. It was what she was familiar with. Hope started running, she ran fast, and she ran far.

Hope’s feet carried her until she finally collapsed, her lungs gasping for air. It took her a few seconds to figure out where she was. Hope had run to the Lockwood Manor. She made her way over to the old cellar and stripped off, placing her clothes in the corner of the room before she started to wolf out. Yes, she was fully aware that she was wolfing out in the middle of the morning, but it was a Sunday and the Lockwood Manor was practically abandoned now. The Salvatore Boarding School used it as a sort of ‘safe-haven’ in the past, so she knew it was relatively safe.

It didn’t take Hope long to transition. She emerged from the cellar in her greyish-white form. She loved being in her wolf form. It was freeing to her; she could run for hours and not feel tired. She could clear her head and right now, that was what she needed. She slowly climbed the stairs to make sure it was clear before she jumped and started to sprint across the woods.

***

Josie tried to run after Hope, but she was too fast. Alaric was stood in the kitchen, frowning at the front door when Josie came down. _“What just happened?”_ Alaric asked.

_“I don’t know… One minute we were talking, then she was crying… Next thing I know, she’s running out. I really don’t know what happened.”_ Josie looked distraught and confused. Alaric walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.

_“Just give her some time to calm down. If she’s not back in 2 hours, we’ll go out and look for her. How does that sound?”_ Alaric rubbed his hand up and down Josie’s arm. Even though he had two daughters, he wasn’t great at showing affection. Josie just stood there tucked awkwardly in her dad’s side.

_“Okay, I’m going to have a shower.”_ Josie shifted out from her dad’s side and headed back upstairs. She paced around her room for a couple of minutes before she decided to call Hope’s phone. Josie picked up her own phone and scrolled through the contacts until she found Hope’s name. She started the call and placed the phone to her ear. A few seconds later there was a muffled ringing in the room. Josie frowned as she unruffled the bedsheets and found Hope’s phone. _“Of course she doesn’t have her phone.”_ Josie shook her head as she ended the call. She sighed as she sat down on the bed and dropped her back to the mattress.

After a few minutes, Josie forced herself up and off the bed then headed to the bathroom. She took a long shower; she couldn’t get Hope’s words out of her head. They kept repeating themselves over and over again. She couldn’t believe that Hope just took off like that. She needed to find her. She needed to know that she was alright. When Josie finished her shower, she headed back to the bedroom and got changed before she ventured downstairs. She made her way into Alaric’s ‘magic’ study (it was his private room where he kept some of his journals from his time as a Vampire Hunter. He also kept some weapons in there and some ingredients for potions and a few planters of vervain… He had to grow it somewhere) and syphoned some magic from one of the items and grabbed a map of mystic falls before she ran back up to her bedroom.

Josie pulled a penknife out of her bag and picked up Hope’s phone then sat on the floor in the middle of the room. She placed the map on the floor and the phone next to it. She stabbed herself in the finger with the penknife and let the blood pool on the paper. She recited the spell and the blood started to move across the paper. It took about five minutes for the blood to stop moving enough for Josie to read it properly. _“The Lockwood Manor? What are you doing there?”_ Josie frowned. She gathered everything together and shoved it into her bag then headed downstairs.

Alaric was sat watching TV when Josie descended the stairs. _“Are you okay Josie?”_ He asked.

_“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m going out.”_ She shrugged as she moved towards the door. She stopped to pull her shoes on before she walked out the door.

_“Hope will be fine. Josie don’t do anything… stupid!”_ Alaric called but his words fell on deaf ears and Josie soon left him alone.

Josie made her way to the Lockwood Manor; it took her close to an hour to walk there. When she arrived, she had no idea where to start looking. She knew that Hope was in the area, because the map told her. She started to walk around the building, it was all locked up and dark inside, so Josie figured that Hope wasn’t inside. She started to walk through the woods, it wasn’t long before she stumbled across the old cellar. Josie hesitated before she carefully shuffled down the stairs. _“Hope? Hope are you down here?”_ It was dark in the cellar, so Josie turned on the flashlight on her phone. She frowned when she spotted Hope’s clothes in the corner of the room. _“Why are her clothes here? Why isn’t she wearing them.”_ It took Josie a few seconds to realise. _“She’s in wolf form… That’s why the blood wouldn’t settle. Stupid.”_ Josie shook her head. She left the clothes where she found them and made her way back outside. She figured that Hope had to turn at some point, so she got settled onto the grass and waited.

***

Hope was running through the woods when a familiar scent hit her snout, causing her to stop in her tracks. _What was Josie doing here? How did she find me?_ Hope thought to herself. She wanted to carry on running, but she had an urge to check on Josie. She padded her way over to Josie and tried to use the trees for cover, but she snapped a branch, startling Josie slightly. _“Hope? Hope is that you?”_ Josie slowly stood up and apprehensively approached Hope. Hope shuffled backwards and growled lowly, forcing Josie to stop moving.

_“Hope… I was worried about you, that’s why I’m here. I did a locator spell to find you. You moved around a lot, so I only got a general area… But I am here for you. I will always be here, whenever you need me. It’s what I do. I take care of people. So when you are ready to talk… I will be sat here, waiting for you. No matter how long you take, I will not leave you.”_ Josie spoke softly.

Hope retreated back into the woods. She didn’t go very far though; she didn’t know who else was out here and she wanted to make sure Josie was safe. She padded around for another hour or so before she finally turned back and trotted to the cellar. Josie didn’t move as she approached, she just watched Hope. Hope entered the cellar and transformed back, she got dressed then joined Josie upstairs. Hope sat down next to her but didn’t say anything, she just stared off into the distance for a while.

Eventually she took a deep breath and took Josie’s hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. _“I’m sorry.”_ Hope barely whispered.

_“You have nothing to be sorry for.”_ Josie replied.

_“I shouldn’t have run away earlier. I heard everything you said, and I got overwhelmed. What you said… I wanted to hear someone say it for the past three months. And when I heard you say them, I freaked… I didn’t mean to make you worried.”_ Hope sheepishly smiled.

_“You don’t need to explain it to me. I’m just glad that you are safe.”_ Josie leaned her head into Hope’s shoulder. They sat there, contempt, and not speaking for roughly thirty minutes before Josie shuffled. _“We should probably head back soon…”_

_“Do we have to? I’m perfectly happy here.”_ Hope frowned slightly.

_“I mean we don’t have too, but I do have to go back to school tonight, and it’s starting to get pretty late.”_ Josie pouted.

_“I’m sorry that I ruined our weekend.”_

_“You didn’t ruin our weekend baby. Don’t even think that. Yesterday was fun and today you needed space. It’s completely normal. We haven’t been together long, so we just need to find our rhythm. It will get easier and we will get better.”_ Josie placed a simple kiss on Hope’s cheek.

Hope finally relented and stood up, pulling Josie up with her. _“Thank you for your patience.”_ She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and kissed her. _“I really mean it. Thank you… for everything.”_

_“You don’t need to thank me. You mean so much to me and I will do anything for you.”_ Josie smiled. _“Right we should really be going, otherwise my dad will start to freak.”_

Josie grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and they walked back home. Alaric was sat watching TV when they entered. _“Glad to see you’re safe Hope.”_ Alaric smiled.

_“Thanks.”_ Hope replied.

_“Josie, I should probably take you back to school soon.”_ Alaric stated.

_“Yeah I know, just let me grab my stuff and then we can go.”_ Josie squeezed Hope’s hand before she dropped it and headed upstairs.

Hope made her way over to the sofa opposite Alaric and sat down. _“I’m really sorry about running out like that. I don’t usually do that. I just needed to clear my head.”_ Hope shook her head.

_“It’s okay Hope. We are human after all… Well, you’re not but you’re a teenager, nonetheless. Just… next time, let me know… I’ll be able to tell you where it is safe to go.”_ Alaric smiled.

_“Thank you. I’ll try and keep that in mind. And thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it.”_ Hope half-smiled in return.

Alaric nodded his head. It wasn’t long before Josie came downstairs with her bags in hand. _“Right, I should probably take Josie back now. Are you coming?”_ Alaric asked Hope.

_“Erm, yeah I can do.”_ Hope smiled as she stood up from the sofa and walked over to Josie. _“Is that okay with you?”_ Hope asked Josie.

_“Yeah that’s definitely fine with me.”_ Josie smiled as she dropped her bag on the floor and pulled Hope into a hug. _“If you need anything, just call me. Okay? Even if you don’t need anything you can still call me.”_ Josie placed a simple kiss on Hope’s lips.

_“I will do. The same goes for you as well. You can call me any time.”_ Hope picked up Josie’s bag and the three of them headed out the door.

The drive to the school was a quiet one. Hope and Josie sat in the back with their fingers interlaced. It didn’t take long for them to reach the school. Josie unbuckled her seatbelt then turned to Hope and hugged her. _“I’m gunna miss you. Call me okay?”_ Josie whispered.

_“I’m gunna miss you too. And I will do.”_ Hope placed a chaste kiss on Josie’s cheek, making Josie smile.

_“Thanks for dropping me off Dad.”_ Josie spoke.

_“It’s okay, be safe. Love you.”_ Alaric stated.

_“Bye Dad.”_ Josie smiled as she climbed out the car, she turned briefly to wave at Hope before she walked up the school drive and disappeared from view.

Hope felt a sadness overwhelm her slightly, but she shook her head and pushed the thoughts out the way. She wanted to focus on the good time she had spent with Josie this weekend and she knew she would see her again soon.


	11. I'm Glad You Found Out.

Chapter 11- I’m Glad You Found Out.

Hope and Josie spent the next week apart from each other. But they had a routine going. First thing in the morning after Hope had been for a run, she would call Josie whilst they both got ready for school. Hope would talk to her about New Orleans and about her family and Josie would listen to every word she said. Then once Hope got to school, they’d end the call and text about something completely different. Usually Josie would keep her up to date with what’s going on at the Salvatore School and who’s hooking up with who. Then once Josie finishes her classes for the day, she’d call Hope and they would talk again until either Josie fell asleep or Hope went to bed. It was usually until Josie fell asleep because she found it hard to stay awake past 11pm. Hope can usually survive on about 6 hours of sleep.

It was late on Thursday evening when Hope and Josie were talking on the phone. Josie still hadn’t decided what she wanted to do about getting her memories back, she had been debating about it all week. After what Hope had said on Sunday about how she felt like she was taking advantage of Josie, she wanted to show Hope that she wasn’t. She thought that the best way to do it was to get her memories back. She wanted her memories back for herself and not for Hope.

She loved hearing all of Hope’s stories, and about her family, especially her Aunt Freya, who is apparently the strongest witch alive. But she had been researching about Malivore a lot. Not that she told anyone that she was doing it. After all her effort, she had finally come up with a possible solution, but it required doing something that she swore she would never do again. She needed to use black magic. Josie hadn’t told anyone, but she had booked flights to New Orleans for Friday. She was going to go and talk to Hope’s aunt Freya. She had been distracted by her thoughts that she forgot that she was on the phone. It wasn’t until Hope was practically shouting that Josie snapped out of it. _“Sorry baby, I got lost in my thoughts there for a minute. What did you say?”_

_“It’s okay baby, I asked what you wanted to do this weekend?”_

_“OH, erm about that. My mom wants me to go and see her. She phoned me earlier, she’s only back in the country for the weekend and she wanted to spend some time with me, without Lizzie being there. Not entirely sure why.”_

_“Oh okay, erm that’s fine. You go and spend some time with your mom. I’ll still be here when you get back. It will be a shame not to see you though. I really miss you…r body.”_ Hope sounded slightly defeated but ended the sentence with a smirk.

_“Oh yeah? I really miss you…r body too.”_ Josie laughed.

_“Oh really? What else do you miss?”_ Hope was intrigued slightly, but she was also feeling mischievous.

_“That’s a tough one. I miss your smile and your lips. I miss looking into your ocean blue eyes. I miss feeling your soft hands on my body.”_ Josie moaned slightly at the thought, but then her heart twinged with sadness. She really wanted to tell Hope that she was planning to go to New Orleans, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up in case it didn’t work. She shook her head. _“What have you got planned for the rest of the night?”_

_“Oh wow, way to change the subject.”_ Hope laughed. _“Well your Dad isn’t home yet… something about a parent-teacher conference at his school. But in all honesty, I just think he is avoiding me. I hardly seen him since… he walked in on us.”_

_“Just give him some time. He’s just, protective.”_ Josie smiled.

_“Yeah but it’s making things slightly tense around here. He won’t even look at me when he tries to talk to me. That’s why I was hoping you were coming around tomorrow, maybe we could have talked to him… together.”_ Hope was feeling slightly defeated.

_“It will be okay baby… How about this? When I come back on Monday, I’ll come straight to you instead of going to school? Then we can have the rest of the afternoon together before my Dad gets home and we will talk to him. Does that sound okay?”_ Josie sounded positive.

_“Yeah okay. What time do you land on Monday?”_

_“Should be around 11:30am.”_

_“Okay, well I can meet you at the Airport if you want?”_

_“Erm. Can I text you and let you know?”_

_“Yeah, that’s fine.”_ Hope sadly smiled.

Hope and Josie continued their conversation. Josie was packing her bags whilst she listened to Hope talking about a film, she had watched last night. Hope was sad that she wouldn’t get to see her girlfriend tomorrow, but she tried not to think about it. It was good that Caroline wanted to spend some one-on-one time with Josie, she’s usually all too consumed with Lizzie drama to pay attention to Josie. As the night dragged on, it was around 10pm when Josie said that she was going to go to bed.

_“Okay baby, I’m going to try and get some sleep now. I have to be up early to catch my flight.”_

_“Okay, do you want me to ring you in the morning?”_

_“Erm… No, it’s okay. I’ll probably be a bit too busy trying to rush around and get the last things sorted.”_

_“Oh, okay then. Well, text me when you land? So, I know that you are safe?”_

_“Yeah I will do. Goodnight baby.”_

_“Goodnight beautiful. I can’t wait to see you on Monday.”_

_“I can’t wait to see you either. Okay, Night Hope.”_

_“Goodnight Jose.”_ Hope’s ear lingered by the phone for a few seconds before she heard the distinctive click, that signalled Josie had ended the call. Hope felt her heart fill with sadness. She wasn’t sure if she had said or done something that had upset Josie. She could tell that Josie was holding something back, but she didn’t want to push it, so she didn’t ask. Hope huffed as she stood up from the sofa and headed to her bedroom. She debated whether she should send Josie a text but decided against it. She groaned as she closed her eyes and forced herself to try and get some sleep.

***

Josie didn’t really get much sleep last night. It was a mixture of excitement, nervousness and the fact that she had basically lied to everyone she cared about. She didn’t tell anyone where she was actually going, she hated lying but it was for the best. MG and Lizzie wouldn’t understand, and she didn’t want to get Hope’s hopes up, in case it didn’t work. She groaned internally as she placed a note on Lizzie’s nightstand. _‘Gone to see Hope. Will be back Monday x’_ … She also shot MG a text saying the same thing. She picked up her bags as she made her way out the door.

Josie arrived at the airport just after 8am. Her flight wasn’t due to leave until 11am but she couldn’t sit around the school. Josie checked her bags in then went to find somewhere to sit down. She found a table at the back of a café. She opened her backpack and pulled out one of her books that she had been using to research black magic. Obviously, she had enchanted the cover before she left, because she didn’t want people staring at her or asking her what it was. She also pulled out a notebook and continued writing her notes, she needed to be prepared for when she spoke to Freya.

A couple of hours had passed by in no time. Josie was engrossed in her book that she didn’t hear the first call for her flight. It wasn’t until the last call came across the Tannoy, and her name was being called that she realised what time it was. _“Oh shit.”_ She quickly gathered her stuff and shoved it in her bag, before she ran halfway across the terminal to get to her gate. She made it just in time. _“I’m so sorry.”_ She said as she handed her ticket to the agent. The agent just gave her a polite half-smile as she motioned her towards the aircraft.

The flight was a steady one, there wasn’t much turbulence and they landed safely. Josie collected her bags and headed for her hotel; she had paid for one near the French Quarter. When she arrived, she checked in and ventured up to the room. She planned to do some more research before she goes to find Freya tomorrow. From what Hope had told her, it’s best to start at Rousseau’s. Someone should know her there. Josie only just remembered to text Hope.

**Josie:** _Hey, beautiful. Landed safely and just checked into the hotel. I miss you <3 xxx_

*******

Hope had been busy this morning. She had gotten up around 5am and headed out for a run. She ran for about 2 hours before she started to feel tired and decided to head back home. When she walked through the door at 7:15am Alaric was up and in the kitchen.

_“Morning Hope. Do you want a coffee and something to eat?”_ Alaric asked.

_“Erm yeah please. Let me just have a quick shower then I’ll be down.”_ Hope smiled.

Hope rushed upstairs and showered. She came back down about twenty minutes later. Alaric had made some scrambled eggs and bacon and left a plate on the kitchen island for Hope.

_“Thanks Alaric. Can I get a lift with you?”_ Hope asked.

Alaric just nodded. Hope sighed, he’s still not talking to her that much. She shook her head and began eating her breakfast. After she was done, she washed her pots and gathered her school stuff together, placing it in her bag before she headed to the door to join Alaric.

_“Can you drop me off at the Grill? I’m meeting Maya there before we head to school.”_

_“Sure.”_ Alaric stated.

The drive to the Grill was a quiet one. It’s the first time in the past two weeks that they had driven in together. Hope usually leaves the house before Alaric gets up, but she was running late today due to her longer run. Alaric pulled up outside the Grill and Hope got out, she shot him a thanks before he drove off. Hope stood and shook her head before she headed inside. Maya was already there and had ordered hers and Hope’s drinks. They greeted each other with a hug before they headed towards the school.

_“Alaric’s still being weird with me.”_ Hope stated.

_“Well what do you expect? He caught you and Josie trying to have sex.”_ Maya laughed.

_“One: We weren’t trying to have sex, we were just… making out. And two: I’ve tried talking to him and tried explaining that we didn’t mean for it to happen but…”_ Hope shook her head.

_“Oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days? Because for me; when a girl has my tits in her mouth it usually means they want to get in my pants as well.”_ Maya laughed.

Hope slapped Maya. _“I told you that in confidence… Not for you to use as a weapon against me.”_

_“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”_ Maya laughed. _“But in all seriousness, just give him time. He probably doesn’t know what to do. Maybe you can get Josie to speak to him. She’s coming round this weekend, isn’t she?”_

_“You’re probably right… And no, she isn’t. She’s gone to spend some time with her mom in Chicago. She’s back on Monday.”_ Hope sounded sad.

_“Ahhh, so that’s why you’re fussing about Alaric. You have to spend the whole weekend alone with him.”_ Maya laughed.

_“Well… do you want to do something this weekend?”_ Hope smiled.

_“Ooo, erm. I don’t think I can. Since Ethan’s arm got better all he wants to do is practice, so I told him that I would help him. Not unless you want to spend the weekend helping me?”_ Maya raised her eyebrow.

_“I’ll do anything just to get out of the house.”_ Hope pleaded.

_“Ooo, Kinky.”_ Maya laughed. _“Okay, well I’ll meet you after school and we can hang out for a bit then we’ll make a plan for the weekend. Sound good?”_ Maya smiled.

Hope nodded. They walked in silence for a while before they reached the school. Hope and Maya said their goodbye’s as they headed to their separate classes.

Hope found all her lessons really boring today, more than usual because she wasn’t texting Josie. Josie always made her day feel brighter. Hope and Maya met up at Lunch before they headed back to class. Hope checked her phone every ten minutes throughout the day, waiting for Josie to text her, but she hadn’t. After the last lesson of the day, Hope went and found Maya sitting outside, waiting for her. Hope and Maya agreed to go to the Grill for a bit, then Hope asked Maya if she wanted to come around to Alaric’s for a few hours. Maya agreed but she said that she couldn’t stay passed 10pm because her mom would freak.

It was around 4pm when Hope finally got a message from Josie.

**Josie:** _Hey, beautiful. Landed safely and just checked into the hotel. I miss you <3 xxx_

Hope’s heart fluttered when she read it. She exhaled a big sigh of relief, like she’s been holding her breath in all day.

_“I take it that’s from Josie?”_ Maya laughed.

_“Yeah, she’s landed safely.”_ Hope replied.

Hope quickly typed out a reply to Josie.

**Hope:** _Glad you’ve landed safely. Was worried because I hadn’t heard from you. I miss you too baby. You can ring me or text me whenever <3 xxx_

Hope shoved her phone back in her pocket and carried on talking with Maya. As the day turned into night and Maya left. Hope finally went to bed. Josie hadn’t texted her back yet, but she wasn’t too worried because she was with her mom. Hope sent Josie another text as she was settling into bed.

**Hope:** _I hope you’ve had a good day today baby. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Goodnight my beautiful girl. <3 xxx_

Hope locked her phone and put it on the nightstand before she fell asleep.

***

Josie had been so engrossed in her research that she hadn’t realised it had gotten so late; she had turned her phone off earlier in the day because Lizzie wouldn’t stop texting her. She didn’t want to be disturbed. She needed to concentrate so she could get everything right, for tomorrow. Josie finally became exhausted and fell asleep with her head in a book.

Josie startled herself awake around 11am. She turned her phone on and saw she had over 30 texts from Lizzie, 15 from MG and 2 from Hope. She didn’t care about Lizzie’s or MG’s texts, she only cared about Hope’s. She read the two messages.

**Hope:** _Glad you’ve landed safely. Was worried because I hadn’t heard from you. I miss you too baby. You can ring me or text me whenever <3 xxx_

**Hope:** _I hope you’ve had a good day today baby. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Goodnight my beautiful girl. <3 xxx_

Josie typed out a reply.

**Josie:** _Hey! Sorry I haven’t replied. Just been really busy, my mom won’t give me any privacy and keeps asking about you. Apparently, Lizzie told her everything. I really miss you and can’t wait to see you again <3 xxx_

Josie jumped off the bed and headed to the bathroom. She had a shower then got dressed before she headed downstairs to get some lunch from the restaurant. After she had eaten, she headed back up to the room to gather her books and notes together and headed towards the French Quarter.

Josie found her way into Rousseau’s, ordered a drink and sat down at a table, she felt nervous. After a while Freya walks in.

_“And how old are you claiming to be?”_ Freya asks as she walks up to Josie.

_“Twenty-one-ish.”_

_“Hmm. Relax. It’s called the Big Easy for a reason. I’m Freya.”_ She said as she sits down opposite Josie. _“I hear you’ve been asking around the Quarter for me.”_

_“I’m Josie. I’m a student at the Salvatore School, Mystic Falls?”_

_“Yeah I’ve heard of it. My wife’s got an eye on it for our son.”_

_“I kinda need your help. There’s this spell, that I’m kinda trying to reverse engineer.”_

_“I’m sure one of your teachers can help you with that.”_ Freya said as she stood up.

_“An ancient Japanese black magic purge spell?”_

_“Those aren’t the kind of spells school kids should be messing with. You should go home.”_ Freya said as she turned to walk away.

_“Wait! You have photos in your home of someone you don’t recognise. Feels like you should know them, but you don’t.”_

_“How did you know that?”_ Freya said as she turned to walk back to Josie.

_“We’ve all forgotten people. It doesn’t matter what I say. The spell that I need is the only way you’re gunna remember for yourself.”_

Josie and Freya worked on the spell all day and night. They researched and talked. Freya told Josie all about her family, she knew most of it anyways from what Hope had told her, but she loved hearing it anyways because it was Hope’s family. And she loved Hope.

***

Hope woke up naturally around 7am. She still hadn’t received a text back from Josie, and she was starting to get a bit worried. She decided to go for a run and hope that it would clear her head. She pulled on her workout gear and headed out the door. Hope ran for about three hours before she came back home. When she arrived back at the house Alaric’s car had gone from the drive. Hope unlocked the door and walked inside, she made her way over to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She found a note on the side from Alaric. _‘Gone out for the day. Will be back tonight.’_ Hope breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad that he had gone out, so they didn’t have to spend the day filled with awkwardness. Hope downed her coffee then had a shower, she took a longer shower than usual before she got dressed and headed back downstairs. Hope pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Maya.

**Hope:** _Hey weirdo! Just going to have some breakfast then head to yours. Should be there around 1pm. If that’s still cool with you?x_

**Maya:** _Hey sweet! Yeah that’s fine. See you in a bit! Oh, make sure you wear something you don’t mind getting dirty ;) Ethan can get a bit rough sometimes hahaha x_

Hope laughed at the reply then pocketed her phone. She headed to the kitchen and made some breakfast. As she sat down at the island to eat, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Hope shuffled in her seat and pulled the phone out. It was a text from Josie. Hope’s heart fluttered.

**Josie:** _Hey! Sorry I haven’t replied. Just been really busy, my mom won’t give me any privacy and keeps asking about you. Apparently, Lizzie told her everything. I really miss you and can’t wait to see you again <3 xxx_

Hope grinned. She was about to send a reply but there was a knock at the door. Hope stood up and quickly moved over to the door and opened it. Hope was shocked to see Lizzie and MG standing at the door.

_“Hi MG, what are you doing here?”_ Hope asked.

_“We’ve actually come to see if Josie is okay. She’s not responded to either Lizzie’s or mine’s texts and were starting to get worried.”_ MG stated.

_“Yeah, it seems like you’ve stolen my sister away from me.”_ Lizzie hissed.

_“Josie isn’t here.”_ Hope replied.

_“When will she be back?”_ MG asked.

_“Erm, Monday?”_ Hope looked puzzled.

_“What do you mean Monday? She said she would be here all weekend.”_ Lizzie spat.

_“Well I can guarantee you that she isn’t here. She hasn’t been here all week. She was meant to be here all weekend, but she said that your mom wanted to spend some time with her… without you.”_ Hope shrugged.

_“That’s impossible. My mom is still in Europe for a few more months. I called her last night when Josie hadn’t replied to any of my messages.”_ Lizzie looked panicked.

_“Oh. Well I don’t know where she is then.”_ Hope frowned. _“Have you tried pinging her phone?”_

_“Yeah, we both have. But it looks like she turned off her location.”_ MG replied.

_“Why don’t you come in?”_ Hope stepped out the way to let MG and Lizzie enter. _“Do either of you want anything to drink?”_ MG and Lizzie both shook their heads.

_“Have you spoken to Josie at all?”_ Lizzie asked as she swanned her way over to the sofa.

_“Erm, not really. She texted me not long ago.”_ Hope pulled out her phone and showed the message to Lizzie.

_“Well that’s clearly not true. She’s not with my mom. So, where is she?”_ Lizzie was pissed.

_“I don’t know. Have you tried doing a locator spell?”_ Hope inquired.

_“God, MG! Why didn’t you think of that?”_ Lizzie shook her head.

_“Maybe because I’m not a Witch.”_ MG mused.

_“Well, do you have everything you need to do a locator spell?”_ Lizzie asked Hope.

_“Erm. I’m not sure. I can find some of the ingredients, but I might need MG to go and get some from the School.”_ Hope shrugged.

_“Have you checked the cupboard? The last door on the left. My dad usually keeps stuff in there. Like some potion mix and some vervain. He always keeps it close by ‘because you’ll never know when you’ll need it.’”_ Lizzie shook her head.

_“Oh. I wondered what was in there.”_ Hope shrugged as she made her way over to the last mystery door. She pulled it open and stepped inside. Just like Lizzie said, there were all different ingredients for making potions and a few planters full of vervain. Hope picked up the things she needed before she headed back into the front room. _“MG can you run to the shop and buy a map of the country please? Preferable an atlas. It’s going to take about fifteen minutes to get everything set up here. And the map is needed to pinpoint Josie’s location.”_ Hope asked.

MG nodded, stood up and left the house. Hope mixed everything together then got a knife from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table. It wasn’t long before MG came back.

_“Woah! What’s the knife for?”_ MG quizzed.

_“I need Lizzie’s blood to get an accurate location. I could just do a basic locator spell, but it will only give you a general area. With Lizzie’s blood I will be able to pinpoint it to the street.”_ Hope shrugged. _“Right I’m ready. Can you open it up to the general map of the country, one with all the states?”_ Hope asked.

MG complied.

_“Lizzie, pass me your hand.”_ Hope said. Lizzie groaned as she held out her hand. Hope picked up the knife and made a large cut across the blonde’s palm.

_“Son of a bitch!”_ Lizzie exclaimed. _“That never gets any better.”_ Blood trickled from Lizzie’s palm onto the map.

Hope recited the spell a few times as the blood began to pool on the page. The blood flowed down the page until it stopped on New Orleans. Hope’s mouth dropped opened, MG and Lizzie looked at her with confused faces. The pages quickly turned themselves until they stopped on a street-view map of New Orleans. The blood flowed across the page until it stopped on the street of Rousseau’s bar. Hope quickly shut the atlas and ran upstairs. She pulled out her phone and tried to call Josie. The brunette didn’t answer. She tried a few times, every time it went to voicemail. Eventually Hope decided to leave a message.

_“Erm, Hey babe. Don’t be mad but Lizzie and MG turned up at your Dad’s freaking out, looking for you. Anyways, we’ve just done a locator spell to find you. I know where you are, I know that you’re at Rousseau’s. Whatever you are doing there, please, please, please be careful okay? It’s not safe. Ring me back when you can. I love you.”_ Hope was panicked and it took her a few seconds to actually realise she just left a voice message telling Josie she loved her. _“OH GOD! Why did I just say that?”_ Hope was kicking herself. Hope paced around the room for a few minutes before she went back downstairs to join Lizzie and MG.

_“Why did you run off like that? What do you know about New Orleans?”_ Lizzie asked.

_“New Orleans is where I am from. It’s where my family is. I think Josie has gone there to find my aunt. Oh god, I am so stupid for telling her.”_ Hope shook her head.

_“Why would she go and find your aunt? Who’s your aunt anyway?”_ MG asked.

_“There’s something you both don’t know about me. My last name isn’t Marshal. It’s Mikaelson. Klaus Mikaelson is my father. And Josie has gone to find my Aunt Freya.”_ Hope stated.

_“Klaus Mikaelson is your father?!”_ Lizzie shouted.

_“Who’s Klaus Mikaelson?”_ MG asked.

_“Oh, he’s only some creep that tried to date my mom. He’s an Original. He was the first Hybrid as well.”_ Lizzie explained.

_“Well that’s not very nice.”_ Hope huffed.

_“Oh. Well why would Josie want to find your Aunt anyway?”_ MG asked.

_“I think it might be because she’s trying to find a way to get her memories back.”_ Hope sadly smiled. _“I wish she would have talked about it with me before she decided to jump on a plane. New Orleans isn’t a safe place.”_ Hope shook her head.

_“Well we should go and get her.”_ Lizzie stated.

_“No, no we can’t. If she wants to do this, we can’t stop her. You know what she’s like, you both do. She will call when she’s ready to talk.”_ Hope argued.

_“But you just said that it’s not safe there. So, we need to go get her.”_ MG retorted.

_“But if she’s with my Aunt, then she will be safe. Freya will protect her.”_ Hope stated.

_“She better. Because if Josie gets hurt. I’m going to kill you.”_ Lizzie spat.

Hope just nodded, she wasn’t going to argue with Lizzie. Even though she knows that Lizzie is usually all mouth and Hope could easily take her. MG and Lizzie stayed for a few more hours talking to Hope. Hope barely gave anything away. She ended up texting Maya to tell her that she couldn’t come around as something came up, Maya seemed fine with it. MG and Lizzie finally left around 5pm. Josie still hadn’t contacted any of them, but Hope took MG’s number so she could text him if she heard anything.

***

Josie and Freya finally came up with the spell around 12pm Sunday afternoon. They had been at it for almost 24hours straight. Keelin seemed fine with it, she knew how Freya could get sometimes. 

_“Okay so when you do the spell you need to say Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae. In the spell, conviction matters. You need to be clear of mind and purpose. If not, then instead of purging the supernatural influence in the mind, you’ll end up solidifying it, making it permanent.”_ Freya stated.

_“Is that as bad as it sounds?”_

_“You’d erase the very memories you’re trying to bring back.”_ Freya phone rings. _“Sorry it’s my wife, she’s with our son today.”_ Freya stands up and walks off.

Josie stands up and heads towards the wall that contained several photos. Josie could only assume they are people who have passed away. She saw a picture of Hope with Freya.

_“Who is she? I knew you were hiding something from me. So, tell me, how is it that we forgot the same person?”_ Freya seemed annoyed.

_“Her name is Hope and she’s my girlfriend. She’s also your niece. A few months ago, the vault to Malivore was unlocked. And Hope was the only one who could close it. Her bloodline, the fact that she is a Tribrid. A Witch, Werewolf and Vampire. But her vampire side hasn’t been activated yet, so Malivore kicked her out. But by then everyone had already forgotten her, including me.”_ Josie spoke softly with sad eyes.

_“What do you mean she’s my niece?”_ Freya asked.

_“She’s Klaus and Hayley’s daughter. As you know, Nature doesn’t allow for immortality, or anything that could completely destroy humanity. Nature creates loopholes. Hope is the loophole. But I love her, and I want to be with her. She said that she doesn’t want anything to happen between us until I know the real her. So, I thought if I came here then you’d help me to get my memories back and I can help you get yours.”_ Josie replied.

_“Okay. Well let’s do the spell.”_ Freya said. They did the spell and it worked, they both got knocked out. Freya was the first to wake up, she rushed over to Josie to check on her. _“Josie, Josie, Josie. Wake up.”_ Freya shook her.

Josie was very groggy when she came to. _“Well, do you remember?”_ She asked.

_“Yes, I remember my niece. I need to call her.”_ Freya said.

_“Let me call her first. She’s already left me a voice message. I should probably call her back.”_ Josie stood up and then walked to find a quiet place to make a phone call. Freya called Keelin to let her know what had happened.

Josie listened to the voicemail.

**Hope** _: “Erm, Hey babe. Don’t be mad but Lizzie and MG turned up at your Dad’s freaking out, looking for you. Anyways, we’ve just done a locator spell to find you. I know where you are, I know that you’re at Rousseau’s. Whatever you are doing there, please, please, please be careful okay? It’s not safe. Ring me back when you can. I love you.”_

Josie heart felt like it was going to explode when she heard those last three words. _I love you._ Hope loved her. And she loved Hope too. She saved the voicemail then proceeded to call Hope. Hope picked up after the third ring.

Hope: _Oh my god! Josie, are you okay?_

Josie: _Yes, I’m fine Hope. Sorry I haven’t called you back. I’ve just been really busy. I listened to your message. And I’m not mad. I’m actually relieved that you know where I am. Your aunt Freya is really cool._

Hope: _Well I’m glad that you’re safe. I’ve been panicking._

Josie: _I’m sorry that I put you through that. I didn’t mean too. But I’ve got my memories back. I remember everything. Freya does too._

Hope: _Oh._

Josie: _What? What was that for? I thought you’d be happy about this._

Hope: _I am happy. I just wished you would have talked to me about it before… you travelled all the way there. New Orleans hasn’t had the best reputation for Witch safety. I was just extremely worried about you baby._

Josie: _I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worried about me. I just wanted to do something nice for you. You said you wanted me to get to know the real you. I thought that this is what you meant._

Hope: _I didn’t think that could be a spell for it. If you had told me about it before you went, then I would have come with you. I wanted to be by your side through all of this. I didn’t want you to be alone, not like I was._

Josie: _I’m so, so, so, sorry baby. I’ll remember for next time. I’ll still be back tomorrow. Will you still meet me at the airport?_

Hope: _It’s okay. And yes, I’ll meet you at the airport. Are you still getting in at 11:30am?_

Josie: _Yeah, that’s what time my flight is due in._

Hope: _Okay. I’ll see you in the morning then. I better go. I need to ring MG and let him know that you’re safe. Text me later?_

Josie: _Oh okay. Oh, your aunt will probably ring you soon as well. I’ll text you later, I promise. I’ve missed hearing your voice Hope._

Hope: _Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ve missed hearing yours too. Bye beautiful._

Josie: _Bye baby._

***

Hope ended her call with Josie and quickly rang MG to let him know that Josie was safe and that she was with her aunt. MG was grateful for the call and said he would tell Lizzie. As soon as Hope ended the call with MG, Freya rang her. Hope cried; she missed the sound of her aunt’s voice. Hope and Freya talked for ages, she even questioned Hope about Josie.

_“You know, you have a good one there Hope. The fact that she came all the way out here just to get her memories back for you. It’s even better than how me and Keelin met. Keep her safe Hope. She loves you dearly.”_ Freya told her.

_“I will do Aunt Freya. She means the world to me. She has done since I was 14. I’m glad that she finally knows it now. Will you do me a favour?”_ Hope asked.

_“What is it?”_ Freya responded.

_“Will you look after her tonight? Let her stay with you and make sure she gets on the plane safely in the morning? I just don’t want anything to happen to her.”_ Hope pleaded.

_“Yeah I can do that. I will do anything for you. You know that.”_ Freya agreed.

_“Thanks.”_ Hope returned.

Their conversation continued for a while, Hope was telling her about how she now goes to ‘normal school’ and about her friend Maya. Hope was truly happy for the first time in months. She just hoped it would last.


	12. Memories Are a Powerful Thing

Chapter 12- Memories Are a Powerful Thing.

Hope didn’t get much sleep last night. She was too excited but also worried about seeing Josie today. A part of her just wanted to run up and hug her and never let her go, but the other part of her just wanted to slap her because she basically ran off and never told anyone where she was going. And she would have hated herself if anything happened to Josie. She would have blamed herself, just like she did when her mom and dad died, because it was her fault. It wasn’t her fault, it just felt like it was, and she still hadn’t fully accepted it yet, a piece of her never will. But she didn’t think she could live with herself if anything happened to Josie.

It was around 6am when Hope received a text from Josie.

**Josie:** _Just heading to the airport now. Your Aunt Freya is driving me. Thank you for talking to her and asking her to let me stay with her. Your family is truly special, and I can’t wait to share it with you. See you soon beautiful. Xxx_

**Hope:** _Thank you for texting me. It’s okay, Aunt Freya doesn’t mind. She’s just glad that I’ve finally found someone that makes me truly happy. I can’t wait to see you. Xxx_

**Josie:** _Oh yes, me and Freya have had some right little chats about you, some of them might fall under the ‘embarrassing childhood stories’ category ;) Both Freya and Keelin are absolutely wonderful, and your cousin Nik is soo adorable. I’ll show you some pictures when I get back. Not long now baby <3 xxx _

**Hope:** _I think I might have to kill her hahaha. Oh, you’ll have to send them to me, I don’t think I can wait that long to see his little face! <3 xxx_

Hope’s phone buzzed in her hand as she received four picture messages from Josie. 2 of the pictures had Nik sitting on Josie’s lap laughing, one of the pictures were of them both asleep on the sofa and the last one was a selfie they had taken together. Josie looked really cute in all of them. Hope’s heart fluttered when she saw her girlfriend’s smile. She also felt slightly turned on when she zoomed in on the photo of her and Nik sleeping on the sofa, she saw that Josie still had the hickeys on her neck. Hope moaned.

**Hope:** _Thanks for the pictures :D he looks so adorable… Also, erm, do you still have the hickeys on your neck? ;) xxx_

**Josie:** _Yes I do, they have faded a lot more this past week though, you can hardly see them. :( You might have to re-do them ;) … Do you want to see? ;) xxx_

**Hope:** _You want me to re-do them? Why? I’m not complaining, I’m just curious ;) what do you mean, do I want to see? Xxx_

Hope’s phone buzzed again, this time with two pictures. The first one was Josie standing in the bathroom, topless with her neck tilted slightly to the left, exposing the right side of her neck and all the fresh hickeys Hope had given her, she also had a cheeky smile on her face. In the second photo Josie was lying on a bed, wearing a simple white vest top and the hickeys were still on her neck, but they had faded a lot, just like Josie said. Hope flicked back to the photo of a half-naked Josie and couldn’t stop staring at it. She was in a slight state of shock at the fact the Josie had actually sent her a nude. Hope started to feel her underwear getting damp the longer she stared at the photo.

Hope’s free hand found its way in-between her legs, it snaked under her shorts and under her thong. Her fingers slipped through her folds and onto her little bundle of nerves. She moaned at the sensation, but then stopped. Her eyes darted around the room before they landed on the drawer. _The vibrator._ Hope thought. She quickly removed her hand from between her legs and jumped off the bed then ran to retrieve the toy and locked the door before jumping back on the bed. Hope cast a quick soundproofing spell on the room before she settled back on the bed, whilst getting her bottom half naked. Hope picked up the vibrator and switched it on. It buzzed to life as Hope placed it on her centre.

Hope picked up her phone and stared at the photo of Josie, her thumb traced over Josie’s features. Hope moved the vibrator up and down against her folds. As she moved the toy up to rest on her little bundle of nerves, her phone rang. It was Josie. She answered it straight away.

Josie: _Hey baby, is everything okay? You didn’t reply back to the photo’s I sent you._

Hope: _(moaning slightly) Yeah baby, everything is fine. Where are you right now?_

Josie: _I’ve just checked my bags in at the airport. I’m just on my way to get some breakfast, why?_

Hope: _Okay good. Go find a private bathroom._

Josie: _Okay… why?_

Hope: _Just do it. I need you to do something for me when you’re there._

There was silence on the phone for a few minutes, Hope’s breathing was becoming heavier. It wasn’t long before she heard a door lock on the other end of the phone.

Josie: _Okay I’m here. What do you want me to do?_

Hope: _Talk dirty to me._

Josie: (laughs) _You want me to do what?_

Hope: _Talk. Dirty. To. Me._

Josie: (laughs) _In what way?_

Hope: _Tell me what you want to do to me._

Josie: _(smirks) Awe baby, did that photo turn you on?_

Hope: _You knew that it would. Please tell me. Tell me what you want to do to me. I’ve got the vibrator out…_

Josie: _That is soo hot. I wish I could see you right now._

Hope: _Uggghhhh, baby, please. I’m begging here._

Josie: _(laughs) Okay, okay. Since you are begging. If I was there with you right now, I would start by kissing your lips, slowly, until you start to fidget underneath me. Then I would part your mouth with my tongue and feel yours push up against mine. My hands would play with the bottom of your top, pushing it up slightly as my hands caressed your soft skin until they found your amazing boobs. I’d take your top off and run my fingers over your nipples, pinching them and rolling them between my fingers, making them hard before I stop kissing you and move my head down to your chest and take a nipple between my teeth…_

(Hope was listening intensely to every word that Josie was saying. She balanced the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could have a free hand. The toy vibrated against her skin; her entrance was getting wetter with every vibration that surged against her. She wanted to moan so much, but she stopped herself because she wanted to hear every single word Josie was saying. Hope dragged the toy from her clit down to her entrance, teased it slightly before she brought it back up. She did this a few times before she bent her knees and took the toy back down to her entrance and slowly slipped the vibrator inside herself.)

Josie: _And tug on it slightly before rolling my tongue over it, flicking it and sucking it, before I let it fall out and I move onto the other one. I’d do the exact same thing to it before I move back up to your mouth and kiss you. Then I’d leave a trail of kisses going down your body, passed your chest and stomach before I stop at the waistband to your shorts. I’d look up at you and wait for you to give me permission before I slowly pull your shorts and underwear down off your legs. I’d slowly kiss up your legs and thighs before I reach your sweet centre. I’d part your legs open and place one of them over my shoulder as two of my fingers open up your folds and drag my tongue from your entrance to your clit, circle it and roll it back down…_

(Hope slowly built up the speed of the thrusts of the vibrator inside her. As the first full thrust entered her, Hope let out a loud moan. She heard Josie chuckle slightly. Hope continued with her motions. She loved hearing Josie’s sweet soft voice explaining all the dirty things she wanted to do to Hope. If Hope wasn’t already turned on, then that would definitely do the trick. Hope increased the pressure of her thrusts and changed the settings of the vibrations that coursed through her. The more Josie spoke, the closer Hope came to her peak. Hope grabbed a pillow from behind her head and shoved it under her hips and shifted to get a better angle for the toy.)

Josie: _I’d do this a few times before I take two of my fingers and slowly push them inside your sweet, wet entrance. I’d feel your legs slightly squeeze together when my fingers slip inside you. I’d start off thrusting you slowly before building up pressure and speed. I’d use my tongue to flick across your clit before I bring it into my mouth and suck it. My fingers still pounding away inside you. When you are finally ready to cum, I’ll take my fingers out and use my tongue to collect all your sweet, sweet juices._

As Josie started to explain how she would fuck Hope, Hope’s arousal was almost at its peak. It only took a few more hard, fast thrusts before Hope was withering on the bed. Her orgasm came thick and fast and she forced her legs together trapping her hand and the toy. _“UGGHHHH. JOSSSSIIEEEE. FUCCKK MEEEE. JOSSIIEEE. UGGHHHH.”_ Hope moaned into the phone.

When Josie heard Hope’s orgasm through the phone, her own body had reacted in the same way. Josie moaned at the sounds Hope was making and it wasn’t long before her fingers found their way into her underwear. It only took a few quick finger thrusts before Josie was riding out her own orgasm.

As Hope’s orgasm was coming to an end, she pulled the toy from inside her and dropped it on the floor, she picked up her phone and rolled over on the bed. She could hear Josie’s moans on the other end of the line. _“Oh god. Your moans are so hot. I wish you were here so I could listen to them without the phone being in the way.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“I wish that I was there too baby. It’s not long now though. Then we can spend the whole day together. I promise. You don’t understand how much I’ve missed you.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Ugh. I need a shower now. And to change the bedding. Right I should probably get going and I’ll see you in a few hours. I love you baby.”_ Hope spoke absentmindedly, then she realised what she had just said so she quickly fumbled with the phone and ended the call. _“Good one Hope. That’s now twice you’ve told her that you love her.”_ Hope groaned, kicking herself as she stripped the bed.

***

_“Hope wait…”_ Josie said, but the call had ended. Josie released her head back against the wall. She wanted to tell Hope that she loved her too. Josie shook her head then stood up. She quickly cleaned herself up before she headed back into the airport terminal. Only a couple more hours before she would be in Hope’s arms again. She needed to see Hope to know if what she was feeling was completely real. She knew that everything that has happened over the past few weeks had been really intense and everything happened so quickly, she felt like she had a connection with Hope when she didn’t have her memories. But now that her memories were back, she just wanted to see Hope, to reach out and touch her because those three months without her made her feel like shit.

Josie found her way to a small coffee shop inside the airport and sat down for a while and waited until her plane started boarding. As she was boarding the plane, she sent a quick text to Hope to let her know. It wasn’t long now.

***

Hope rushed around, she put her dirty sheets in the washing machine then remade the bed before she jumped in the shower. She took a longer shower than normal, but she was still dressed and downstairs, making breakfast before Alaric came down to join her.

 _“Morning Alaric!”_ Hope greeted him.

 _“Morning Hope. Are you coming into school today?”_ He asked.

 _“Erm, no. I’m going to meet Josie at the airport.”_ Hope replied.

 _“What’s Josie doing at the airport?”_ Alaric furrowed.

 _“Oh yeah, you don’t know. Well basically she went to New Orleans and got her memories back. My Aunt Freya helped her; she got her memories back too. She looked after Josie for me. Josie should be boarding soon. She’s due back at 11:30am.”_ Hope beamed.

Alaric shook his head. _“That’s just… I don’t know what to say about that. I’m glad she’s safe though. I’ll just tell you both off later.”_

 _“Do you want any breakfast?”_ Hope changed the subject.

 _“Sure.”_ Alaric responded.

Hope finished off making the breakfast for her and Alaric. They ate in silence. When Alaric finished eating, he stood and gathered his work things together then headed out the door. Leaving Hope alone once again.

Hope wandered over to the sofa, turned on the TV and sat down. She flicked through the recorded shows playlist and put The Simpsons on. She sent Maya a quick text to let her know that she wasn’t coming to school then returned her attention back to the TV. Hope watched two episodes before she received a text from Josie.

**Josie:** _Just boarding the plane now. Not long til I get to see your beautiful face again baby <3 xxx_

Hope smiled. She quickly ordered a taxi then rushed around to make sure everything was sorted before she picked up her backpack and headed out the door and into the taxi that had just arrived. The drive to the airport took about 40minutes and Hope nervously played with her phone the whole way.

Once Hope arrived at the airport, she thanked and paid the driver. She exited the car and made her way to the arrival’s terminal. Hope found a little coffee shop and sat down. She had about 1 ½ hours to wait before Josie’s plane got in. Hope thumbed through a newspaper that was on the table. She couldn’t concentrate though; she was getting too nervous about seeing Josie.

Time seemed to move very slowly for Hope. She must have checked her phone every 10 minutes. Finally, there was an announcement over the Tannoy. _“Flight NO247 from New Orleans is making its final approach.”_ Hope breathed out a sigh of relief. Then she started to panic. It felt like she was meeting her girlfriend for the first time. Because in a way, she was. She didn’t know exactly how much Josie remembered or what she remembered.

Hope wanted to do something special for Josie, so she headed towards the little shop inside the terminal. There wasn’t much in there, a small selection of cards, some snacks and drinks and a big display of flowers. Clearly this little shop had an audience and Hope was about to be a part of it. She shook her head as she walked over to the flowers. There were too many to choose from. She was frowning hard and lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard the cashier approach her.

The twenty-something year old girl lightly placed her hand on Hope’s shoulder, startling Hope.

 _“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”_ The girl said as she removed her hand from Hope’s shoulder. _“Can I help you?”_

 _“Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. I can’t decide what flowers to get for my … girlfriend.”_ Hope smiled as the words left her lips.

 _“Now that is something I can help you with.”_ The other girl smiled. _“Is it the first time you’re meeting her?”_

 _“No, I’ve known her for years. But it is kind of like I’m meeting her for the first time… It’s a long story…”_ Hope trailed off smiling as she shook her head.

_“Say no more. Do you know what her favourite type of flower is?”_

_“Erm, no… I don’t actually. Oh my god. I’m terrible.”_ Hope groaned.

 _“It’s fine. You’re just nervous. Here… let me sort you something out.”_ The other girl picked a few Roses, Tulips and Lilies. She rolled them into some pretty paper and handed them to Hope. Hope shuffled her bag off her shoulder and rooted around for her purse, she pulled some money out and went to hand it to the cashier. _“No, it’s okay. I’ll get this for you. It feels like you could do with some confidence today. Everything works out in the end. She’s gunna love you.”_ The cashier waved Hope away.

Hope smiled and thanked the nice lady before she headed back into the terminal. Hope hovered near the exit with her bunch of flowers and a stupid grin on her face. It wasn’t long before Josie emerged from the double doors with her bags in tow. Hope spotted her first, but nervously danced in place before she finally got the courage to move towards her girlfriend.

***

Josie was so nervous the entire flight, she couldn’t stop her legs from bouncing up and down. She was biting her lip a lot as well. She couldn’t wait to see Hope again. She needed to be with her. She wanted to be pissed off because Hope never reached out to her when she first lost her memory, but she understood why she didn’t. She couldn’t blame Hope. She needed her to know that. Josie’s thoughts were spinning with all the memories she had shared with Hope over the years. Yes, some of them weren’t great, but she could just replace them with the new ones she had made with her. Like the memory of basically having phone sex with her girlfriend this morning or the fact that they come so close to having sex three times already… Those are good memories that can replace the bad ones.

Time escaped Josie’s grasp and before long she was descending back into Virginia. After the plane landed, she gathered her backpack from the overhead locker and pulled it onto her shoulder. She shuffled off the airplane with everyone else and collected her suitcase from the luggage carousel. Josie took a deep breath before she headed out to the main entrance of the terminal.

It didn’t take long for Josie to see Hope. Hope had started walking towards her with a bunch of flowers. Josie smiled as her eyes met Hope’s.

 _“Hey beautiful. I got you these.”_ Hope smiled as she handed Josie the flowers.

 _“Thanks baby. They are so beautiful. Just like you.”_ Josie beamed back; she dropped the flowers onto her suitcase and pulled Hope into a deep kiss. She moaned slightly as their lips touched. Josie placed her arms on Hope’s shoulders and ran her fingers down her girlfriend’s neck. Josie ran her tongue across Hope’s lip, parting it before her tongue slipped in to meet Hope’s. Hope’s hands immediately gripped around Josie’s waist, desperately trying to pull her closer, even though there was no space left between them.

Hope stepped back slightly and broke their embrace. Josie pouted slightly as the loss of contact.

 _“We should probably get going… instead of making out in the middle of the airport. We will have plenty of time to do that back at home.”_ Hope smiled as she picked up Josie’s bag and flowers, she handed Josie the flowers again then took her girlfriends hand in her own as they walked out of the airport and got into a taxi.

They arrived back at Alaric’s in what felt like no time at all. Hope pulled Josie’s bag out of the boot and took it into the house. Josie followed her, smiling. She could get used to this. Hope had already dropped Josie’s bag on the floor next to the door when Josie walked into the front room. Hope was stood in the middle of the room staring at Josie.

 _“What?”_ Josie frowned.

 _“Nothing, I just can’t believe how beautiful you are.”_ Hope winked.

 _“Somehow I don’t believe you. Seriously though, what are you staring at me for?”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Okay fine… I can’t stop staring at your… neck.”_ Hope swallowed as she traced her fingers over her own neck.

 _“Oh yeah… They are good, aren’t they?”_ Josie said as she slowly crept closer to Hope. _“Your Aunt Freya had a few things to say about them as well.”_ Josie said as she stopped an arms-length away from Hope.

 _“Oh God. What did you tell her?”_ Hope faced flushed with embarrassment.

 _“Oh you know… I told her that you got hungry.”_ Josie winked.

 _“You’re taking the piss, right? You didn’t actually say that to her, did you?”_ Hope panicked slightly.

 _“No I didn’t say that to her.”_ Josie shook her head. _“She asked but I just changed the subject. It got even more awkward when she got her memories of you back as well…”_

 _“What do you mean?”_ Hope puzzled.

 _“Well I told her that you were my girlfriend, then she asked me when and why you broke up with Landon… then I had to explain that I was with Landon and that I broke up with him… for you, because of you. Because I wanted you.”_ Josie stated.

 _“How romantic of you.”_ Hope laughed as she finally pulled Josie into her arms. They swayed from side to side slightly in what could only be described as an awkward dance without any music. _“What do you want to do today?”_

 _“Why don’t we sit and watch a film whilst I tell you all about my memories I got back?”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you go and get a blanket and choose a film whilst I make us something to eat and drink?”_ Hope smiled and kissed Josie’s cheek as she unwrapped her arms from Josie’s waist and headed into the kitchen.

Josie walked back to the door and picked up her bags then took them upstairs. She quickly got changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt then collected the blanket from Caroline’s room and skipped back downstairs to join Hope. Josie jumped the last few steps of the stairs and managed to land safely, without falling over. Josie threw the blanket onto the sofa and wandered to join Hope in the kitchen. _“Hey beautiful, what you doing?”_ Josie grinned as she leaned against the kitchen island with her hands resting on each of her cheeks.

 _“Just making some sandwiches for us.”_ Hope smiled back. _“Have you picked a film yet?”_

 _“Ooo, thanks, I’m starving. And thanks for reminding me, I’ll go pick one now.”_ Josie spun on her heals and headed into the DVD cupboard. _“Is there anything you don’t want to watch?”_ Josie called.

 _“Yeah, Rent!”_ Hope called back as she finished making the sandwiches and headed over to the sofa with both plates in hand, she placed them on the coffee table then headed back to the kitchen to get 2 cans of diet coke out of the fridge before she returned to the sofa.

 _“Ha. Ha. Very funny. Ooo, I think you’ll like this one.”_ Josie re-emerged from the cupboard with a DVD in hand. _“It’s called Identity Thief. Have you seen it?”_ Josie walked over to the sofa where Hope was, placed a kiss on her cheek before she moved over to the DVD player and put the disk in. She spun round and moved back over to the sofa, sitting down next to Hope.

 _“No I haven’t seen it… It sounds interesting though. You look hot by the way.”_ Hope winked.

 _“You’re such an arsehole.”_ Josie laughed as she playfully punched Hope in her leg. Josie picked up the remote and turned the TV on. They quickly ate their sandwiches before they settled onto the sofa. Hope sat with her right leg crossed under her and her left foot rested on the coffee table. Josie was half-leaned into Hope and half- leaned on the backrest of the sofa, she rested her hand on Hope’s free leg. Hope wrapped her right arm across Josie’s shoulder, pulling her closer.

 _“I don’t think that my day could get any better.”_ Hope whispered into Josie’s ear. Josie shivered in response.

Josie sat up and turned to face Hope. She took Hope’s hands in her own and looked into her eyes. _“Baby, I know you’ve been worried about us. I know you’ve been worried that if I got my memories back then I wouldn’t want to be with you. But I’m here, with you, right now. And I can promise you that I want to be with you. Yes, we haven’t had the best relationship and we’ve done some pretty shitty things to each other but none of that matters anymore. These past few weeks have been amazing and wonderful and I don’t want that to end. You mean everything to me. I want you to know that. And I also want you to know that… I love you Hope Andrea Mikaelson. You are so insanely strong and brave and beautiful. I didn’t mean to worry you or scare you when I went to New Orleans. I just needed to do this for myself and for you. I needed to get my memories back because since before I saw you at the game, it felt like a part of me was missing but I couldn’t explain what it was, then I saw you… and something clicked inside me. And what you said is true, there was a part of me that had a crush on you, and I set the fire in your bedroom because of it. But I still have a crush on you. It never went away, as much as I tried to fill the void with Penelope, then Landon… You were always the one that I wanted to be with. It’s with you that my heart belongs. I love you, okay?”_

Hope couldn’t help but smile at her girlfriend’s words. _“You are honestly so amazing. I wasn’t too thrilled when I found out that you were actually in New Orleans. It scared the life out of me. I grew up there, I know how bad it has been and all I wanted to do was jump on the next plane to go and get you… But I am glad that you have your memories back, because in all honesty, I have missed you… The real you.”_ Hope leaned in and kissed Josie.

Josie shifted her weight and straddled Hope’s legs as she pushed deeper into their kiss. She could hear Hope moan as she settled onto her girlfriend. Josie could feel Hope’s hands start to snake up her top, it wasn’t long before the fingers danced lightly across her nipples. She gasped at the sensation. She could feel Hope drawing circles around them with her thumb and gently pinching them between her fingers every so often. _“Wait… wait…”_ Josie breathed. _“We should go upstairs.”_

Hope immediately dropped her hands from Josie’s breasts to her ass and picked her up as she stood up from the sofa, then she carried her girlfriend up to the bedroom, kicking the door closed behind them. She laid Josie down on the bed and went to climb on top of her, but Josie stopped her. Josie sat up and pulled Hope’s top off, undid her girlfriend’s bra and threw both articles of clothing on to the floor before she made Hope lie down and she straddled her, pulling her own top off in the process. She arched back down to Hope and kissed her. It didn’t take long for her tongue to enter Hope’s mouth.

Hope moaned at the intrusion; her hands made their way onto her girlfriend’s breasts. She pinched and rolled the nipples between her fingers. Hope broke their kiss and shifted Josie up her body slightly, until her breasts were in-line with her face. She kissed her girlfriend’s cleavage before she took a nipple in her mouth.

Josie moaned and rocked deeper into her. She could feel Hope’s tongue circling and flicking the little nub, teasing it until it became hard, eventually Hope released her mouth and moved over to the other nipple and gave it the same treatment. Josie used her right hand to steady herself above her girlfriend whilst her left hand lightly pressed itself on Hope’s neck, causing Hope to moan at the slight pressure.

Hope moved her hands from Josie’s sides and slid them down to her ass, slipping under the band of her sweatpants and thong, pushing them down her thighs and dragged her nails across the bare skin. Hope dropped the nipple from her mouth and in one swift motion she sat up and pushed Josie underneath her, pulling her sweatpants and thong off before throwing them on the floor. Hope dipped her head into Josie’s neck and started to re-do the hickeys that had faded. Josie’s hands wandered across Hope’s skin, her nails digging and dragging across her girlfriends back; causing the skin to break and Hope to bleed. Josie was slightly disappointed that the scratches pretty much healed as soon as she made them.

Hope moaned at the feeling of Josie’s nails dragging against her skin. After Hope was satisfied with the hickeys, she started to trail her tongue down her girlfriend’s body. She circled her naval and continued south, skirting past her entrance and kissing down the thigh of her right leg, until she reached Josie’s knee and turned her head then kissed up the left thigh. She stopped just shy of Josie’s intimate area and looked up at her girlfriend.

Josie lifted her head to find out why the touching had stopped, then her eyes met Hopes. _“I give you permission.”_ Josie grinned breathlessly, and with that Hope’s head dropped. Hope’s tongue found its way into Josie’s wet folds. Josie’s head dropped back down as she let out a loud moan, her hands found their way into Hope’s hair. Hope’s tongue started to circle Josie’s bundle of nerves, every so often she would flick across it before she let her tongue slip down to the entrance then brought it back up.

_“Josie! There you are!”_ Lizzie’s voice rang out as the bedroom door flew open. _“Oh god! I don’t need to see that.”_

 _“For fuck sake Lizzie. Piss off!”_ Josie growled. Hope was frozen in place.

 _“No. You’re in big trouble. Now get dressed and get your arse downstairs!”_ Lizzie called then turned and headed back downstairs.

 _“What is with your family and their constant need to walk in on us?”_ Hope couldn’t help but laugh as she forced herself to seating and wiped her hand across her face.

 _“I have no idea. But I think I might have to kill her.”_ Josie groaned.

 _“I heard that!”_ Lizzie called from the hallway.

 _“Piss off Lizzie!”_ Josie shouted.

Hope listened carefully and eventually she heard Lizzie descending the stairs. _“If anyone walks in on us again, I think we might just have to get a hotel room.”_ Hope laughed as she bent down and kissed Josie’s lips. _“You taste even better than I do.”_ Hope grinned. Josie wrapped her arms around Hope’s neck.

 _“I still think you taste better.”_ Josie grinned.

 _“We should probably get dressed and go downstairs before Lizzie kills us.”_ Hope frowned as she pulled Josie up.

 _“Yeah, I know… Whilst I’m thinking about it, what do you want me to do about Lizzie’s memories?”_ Josie twisted her face.

 _“Give them back to her… You know she will only kill us if we make her wait. Plus it might be fun to torture her a bit.”_ Hope laughed slightly.

 _“Okay.”_ Josie grinned as she kissed Hope again. After a couple of minutes Josie finally groaned and got up from the bed. The two girls got dressed and made their way downstairs. Lizzie was sat on the sofa next to MG.

 _“Oh good! You’re finally dressed. You know I really don’t appreciate you running off to…”_ Lizzie started to ramble on as she saw Josie and Hope walk across the room.

Josie placed her hand on Hope’s back and syphoned some magic from her before she said. _“Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae.”_ A wave of blackness escaped from Josie’s hand and washed over Lizzie and MG, causing them both to pass out immediately.


	13. We Just Wanted To Have Some Fun

Chapter 13- We Just Wanted to Have Some Fun.

_“How long will they be out for?”_ Hope asked Josie.

 _“I was out for about 2 hours. So, I’m guessing that they will be out for that long as well.”_ Josie shrugged.

 _“Okay. Well do you want to go to the Grill for something to eat?”_ Hope smiled as she turned to face her girlfriend.

 _“Can do. Give me about 10 minutes though, I’m not going dressed like this.”_ Josie smiled, she kissed Hope then headed upstairs to get changed.

Hope made her way over to the sofa and saw Lizzie and MG passed out next to each other. She shrugged and decided she wanted to have some fun. Hope rearranged the two people on the sofa. She slumped MG to the end of the sofa and propped him up then she moved Lizzie, so that she was lying on her side and had her head in MG’s lap, facing the centre of the room and hung MG’s arm over her waist. She laughed to herself. She had to admit they did make a cute couple. After she was satisfied with what she had just done, she took a photo then headed to the kitchen and got a can of diet coke out of the fridge. She was smiling to herself when Josie came back downstairs.

 _“What are you smiling at?”_ Josie asked, curiously.

 _“Have a look for yourself.”_ Hope laughed, gesturing towards Lizzie and MG.

 _“Oh Lizzie is going to kill you.”_ Josie laughed as she took a photo.

 _“Oh they won’t realise what happened because we aren’t going to be here.”_ Hope laughed as she kissed Josie. _“Are you ready to go?”_

 _“Yeah.”_ Josie picked up her backpack and pulled it onto shoulders. _“Oh wait. Let me get Lizzie’s car keys. I’ll drive us.”_ She smiled and she reached into Lizzie’s pocket and retrieved the keys. _“Right, I’m ready.”_

 _“Okay, let’s go.”_ Hope kissed Josie as they walked out the door, locking it behind them. They climbed into Lizzie’s car and Hope pulled out her phone and plugged the AUX cable in. She scrolled through her music until she found a song. She settled on Feelings - Hayley Kiyoko.

 _“Ooo, I LOVE this song!”_ Josie smiled as she started the engine. _“Did you know that Hayley Kiyoko is basically Lesbian Jesus?”_ Josie laughed as she pulled out into the street and started their drive to the Grill.

 _“No, I didn’t know that… what does that even mean?”_ hope laughed.

_“Apparently that’s what her fans call her… She’s really big in the LGBT+ community and she’s been very vocal about her experiences. She’s not afraid to call bullshit either.”_

_“Fair enough, you learn something new every day.”_ Hope smiled as she stretched her hand to Josie’s and gave it a squeeze. Josie smiled back in response.

The two girls travelled to the Grill in relative silence after that. They just let the car fill up with music, occasionally they would sing along. Josie more than Hope though. Hope could sing, but she didn’t like too, she finds it too nerve-racking. Imagine that. The big bad Tribrid is actually scared of something. It didn’t take long for the girls to arrive at the Grill. Josie parked the car and they both got out and headed inside the restaurant.

They found ‘their table’ and sat down. The waiter came over and took their orders then left. The two girls chatted for a while. Josie was telling Hope about what she got up to whilst she was in New Orleans. Hope was glad that Josie had a good time with her Aunt Freya. She could always count on Freya to make people feel safe, especially people who Hope really cared about. Josie also spoke about little Nik, and how is causing her aunts so much trouble. Hope laughed and said that he was definitely a Mikaelson. It wasn’t long before their food arrived. They carried on their conversation whilst they ate. Hope’s phone vibrated in her pocket, she pulled it out and saw that it was a message from Maya.

**Maya:** _Hey sweet! Missed you today. What are you up to? x_

Hope laughed. _“Maya wants to know what I’m up to.”_

 _“Ask her if she wants to come here?”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Are you sure?”_ Hope asked.

 _“Yeah, I’m sure. Plus she will be the perfect buffer for when Lizzie finally figures out where we are.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Okay, I’ll let her know.”_ Hope kissed Josie’s cheek.

**Hope:** _At the Grill with Josie. Come down x_

**Maya:** _Okay, be there in 20 x_

_“She’s on her way.”_ Hope stated as she placed her phone on the table and continued eating.

It wasn’t long after they finished eating that Maya arrived. Maya greeted the two girls and they started talking, they talked for about an hour before Josie’s phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was Lizzie. _“Looks like Lizzie’s awake.”_ Josie laughed as she let her phone go to voicemail.

***

_“HOPE ANDREA MIKAELSON! I am going to kill you.”_ Lizzie shot up from MG’s lap. She was disoriented slightly at how she ended up in MG’s lap in the first place. She turned to MG and shook him. _“MG! MG! Wake up!”_

 _“Huh? What? What’s going on?”_ MG tried his best to act groggy. MG had actually woken up five minutes before Lizzie, but he didn’t dare to move. He secretly loved having the Blonde sleeping in his lap. When he started to feel Lizzie’s breathing change, he forced his eyes shut again, and surely enough it only took about a minute for Lizzie to bolt upright.

 _“Hope is what’s going on. I am going to kill her.”_ Lizzie stood up and headed upstairs to find the two girls. She searched everywhere in the house, but she couldn’t find them. She ran back downstairs and joined MG. Lizzie pulled out her phone and called Josie. _“She’s not answering.”_ She ended the call when it went to voicemail and sent her a text.

**Lizzie:** _Josie! Where are you?!_

**Josie:** _Gone out. Be back later._

**Lizzie:** _This isn’t funny Josie! Tell me where you are._

Lizzie waited a couple of minutes for a reply, but never got one. She decided to call Josie again, but it went to voicemail. _“I’m going to kill them both MG.”_ Lizzie spat. Lizzie turned and headed to her Dad’s study, she pulled out a map then walked over to the kitchen and placed it onto the island. Lizzie called MG over and syphoned some magic from him, then pulled a knife out from the block and cut herself. She cast a locator spell.

 _“They’re at the Grill. Come on MG.”_ Lizzie reached into her pocket as she walked through the door. _“Urgh!! They took my car keys… AND MY CAR!”_ Lizzie was pissed.

 _“Lizzie, calm down.”_ MG tried to reassure her. _“We will just walk there. It’s not that far.”_

 _“Not that far! I am not walking there.”_ Lizzie pulled out her phone and ordered a taxi. She stormed back into the house and pulled a drink from the fridge.

It wasn’t long before the taxi arrived. _“Come on MG.”_ Lizzie said as she pulled him into the taxi. The journey to the Grill was a short one. MG paid the driver and got out. Lizzie following behind. As they walked in, MG spotted the girls sitting at the table.

 _“HOPE ANDREA MIKAELSON! I am going to kill you.”_ Lizzie exclaimed as she approached the table. _“Who the hell are you?”_ She said as she spotted Maya sitting at the table.

 _“My name is Maya. I’m Hope and Josie’s friend.”_ Maya smiled.

 _“That’s impossible. Hope doesn’t have any friends.”_ Lizzie retorted.

 _“Wow, that’s not very nice Lizzie.”_ Josie interjected.

 _“No, what isn’t nice is one of you knocking me out for 2 hours and leaving me with MG, then stealing my car.”_ Lizzie narrowed her eyes at Hope and Josie as she sat down next to Maya. _“So which one of you did it?”_

 _“Ouch that hurt.”_ MG whined as he pulled a chair up to the table and sat down.

 _“Which one of us did what?”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Which one of you knocked me out then stole my car?”_ Lizzie stared at Hope.

 _“It was me.”_ Josie laughed. _“And I didn’t steal your car… I borrowed it. We just wanted to have some fun.”_

 _“That’s not funny. Do you realise that we had to get a taxi here…? A taxi! Josie. Urgghh”_ Lizzie recalled the experience like it was the worst thing in the world.

 _“Getting a taxi isn’t the end of the world Lizzie. God! You need to stop being so dramatic.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Me? being dramatic… That is not fair, especially after what I’ve had to put up with all weekend.”_ Lizzie shook her head. _“You scared the hell out of me Josie. Never do that again. If you have to go somewhere, tell someone before you do and don’t just wander off. You could have been hurt or killed.”_

 _“Sorry Lizzie. I just needed to do it. And it worked out fine. I’m safe and alive. Plus Hope and I are in a much better place now.”_ Josie stated as she leaned into Hope’s side.

 _“Oh God! Don’t remind me. I have the image of … that… stuck in my head.”_ Lizzie’s whole body shivered.

Maya burst out laughing. _“Why didn’t you tell me that you two got caught again?”_ Hope leaned over and punched Maya.

 _“What do you mean again? Who caught you before?”_ Lizzie looked puzzled. _“Actually, I don’t even want to know.”_ She shook her head.

 _“I can’t deal with this Hope.”_ Maya laughed. _“It’s just too good. You two can never catch a break, can you?”_

 _“Hopefully that will start to change.”_ Josie laughed as she turned and kissed Hope. The kiss was followed by a chorus of _“Oh yeah, get it girl.”_ (from Maya.), _“Oh God.”_ (from Lizzie.) and _“Oh erm…”_ (from MG.) Hope and Josie couldn’t help but laugh.

 _“You two seriously need to get a room.”_ Maya laughed.

 _“Oh, we had one but then someone barged in without knocking first.”_ Hope glared at Lizzie.

 _“Well… It wasn’t my fault. How was I meant to know you were in there? I was just looking for my sister, because you always seem to kidnap her.”_ Lizzie shrugged.

 _“I don’t kidnap Josie. She loves me and willingly follows me wherever I go.”_ Hope winked and received a slap on the arm from Josie.

 _“Yeah, just don’t follow them into a bathroom.”_ Maya laughs.

 _“Okay, I definitely don’t need to hear this.”_ MG stood up and walked over to the counter and ordered a drink.

 _“So how did you exactly become “friends” with Hope then?”_ Lizzie asked Maya.

 _“Oh you know, I flirted with her on the first day of school and she shot me down. No hard feelings though.”_ Maya winked at Hope.

_“That sounds about right. She usually just pushes people away. I’m actually surprised you stuck around.”_ Lizzie shrugged.

 _“And, that’s the end of that conversation. We should probably head back home because we still need to… sort your dad out before the three of you go back to school.”_ Hope stated.

 _“Oh yeah, I forgot about my Dad.”_ Josie laughed as she realised the irony of it. _“It’s been lovely to see you again Maya.”_ Josie smiled as she slid out from the table. Hope soon followed. Lizzie begrudgingly stood up as well.

 _“Come on MG. We’re leaving.”_ Lizzie called.

 _“Bye Guys!”_ Maya called to the group as they walked out the Grill.

The car ride back to the house was a painful one. Lizzie was constantly questioning Hope about why she hadn’t reached out to anyone over the past 3 months and about if she would be coming back to school or not. Hope didn’t have any answers yet. She just wanted to spend the day alone with Josie, but she couldn’t do that anymore. Hope was feeling worn out by the end of the interrogation. They arrived back at the house and Alaric’s car was parked in the drive. They all got out and walked in. Alaric was sat in the front room watching TV.

 _“Hey Dad.”_ Lizzie and Josie said at the same time.

 _“Hey Doctor S.”_ MG spoke.

 _“Hey Alaric.”_ Hope waved.

 _“Okay, I don’t like the look of this… What’s going on?”_ Alaric frowned.

 _“I got my memories back, so have Lizzie and MG. Hope wants me to give you yours back as well… If that’s okay with you?”_ Josie spoke.

 _“That’s fine but first things first… Do you realise how reckless you were when you just decided to go to New Orleans and not tell anyone where you were going? I had to find out from Hope this morning that you were there! You could have been hurt or killed.”_ Alaric stood up and walked over to Josie and pulled her into a hug. “ _But I am glad that you are safe.”_

 _“I’m sorry Dad. I just needed to do it. Mom knew I was there, I phoned her. I needed to ask her if I was doing the right thing. She said that everyone deserves to know and that it isn’t my secret to keep. If I knew how to fix it, then I should.”_ Josie said.

 _“Okay, well just don’t do it again.”_ Alaric replied. _“Right, so how do we do this?”_

 _“I’m going to say the spell. You’ll be knocked out for about two hours. Then you’ll wake up with all your memories.”_ Josie stated. _“You might want to sit down for this.”_

Alaric nodded and sat down on the sofa. Josie syphoned some magic from Hope and started the spell. _“Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae.”_ Just as before, a wave of blackness escaped from Josie’s hand and washed over Alaric. He soon passed out on the sofa.

 _“Why don’t you two go back to school and I will get dad to drop me off later?”_ Josie asked Lizzie and MG.

 _“No, I want to be here… I still don’t trust Hope’s intentions.”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“I am not going to hurt Josie. We actually would like to spend some time alone… You get to see her more than I do.”_ Hope stated.

 _“Lizzie come on. Let’s just go back to school. They need time to talk to him as well.”_ MG responded.

 _“Ugh! God! Fine! But if you hurt her Hope, I will kill you.”_ Lizzie threw her hands up in the air and headed out the door with MG in tow.

_“Well I’m glad she’s gone… I must admit, I haven’t missed her bitchiness at all.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“I know she’s annoying, but she’s still my sister Hope.”_ Josie stated.

 _“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”_ Hope leaned in and kissed Josie. _“So what do you wanna do for the next two hours?”_ Hope wiggled her eyebrows.

 _“Get that thought out of your head… I really don’t feel like getting caught twice in one day.”_ Josie deflated.

 _“Oh, well that’s no fun.”_ Hope laughed as she kissed Josie again. _“Well do you just want to watch a film or something then?”_

 _“Yes, but only if we watch Rent.”_ Josie smirked.

 _“Urgh, seriously? Do we have to?”_ Hope whined.

 _“Well if you ever want to get in my pants again then yes.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Fine, you win… Only because I really, really, really want to have sex with you. Hell be damned if we get caught. Next time I won’t stop...”_ Hope growled lowly as she pulled Josie into another kiss, this one slightly more forceful than before, in a way she was showing Josie that she meant business. Josie moans as she wraps her hands around her girlfriend’s waist, pulling her closer. It took all of Josie’s strength not to rip Hope’s clothes off right then.

Josie whimpered slightly as she finally pulled herself away from Hope. Hope grinned at the sound her girlfriend made. _“Right. You get the drinks and I will get the DVD and blanket.”_ Josie breathed.

 _“Yes dear.”_ Hope winked as she made her way into the kitchen. Josie’s eyes followed her for a few seconds before she turned on her heels and headed upstairs. Josie retrieved the blanket and DVD then put the disk in the player and sat down on the sofa. Hope was already waiting for her when she arrived. Josie settled her head onto Hope’s chest and covered them both in the blanket. Hope picked up the remote and pressed play.

The girls were about ¾ of the way through their film when Alaric bolted upright on the sofa. _“HOPE!”_ He shouted, scaring the girls in the process.

 _“Jesus Alaric. There’s no need to be so loud.”_ Hope frowned.

 _“Oh God, I think I had a heart attack.”_ Josie muttered as she grabbed her chest.

Alaric sat up and shook his head. _“Hope!”_ He jumped off the sofa, ran over to Hope and pulled her into an awkward hug.

 _“Oh God… This is uncomfortable.”_ Hope groaned.

 _“Yup, I think I am getting squished.”_ Josie mumbled.

 _“Sorry. Sorry.”_ Alaric stood up straight. _“I’m just so glad that you’re back… that I’m back… that I’ve got my memories back.”_

 _“Thanks.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“So, do you want something to eat? Because I am starving.”_ Alaric beamed.

 _“Ooo, same.”_ Hope grinned.

 _“Hope, we ate like 4 hours ago. How can you still be hungry?”_ Josie frowned.

 _“My wolf is hungry, so I am hungry.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Well that settles it. Hope, why don’t you pick us something? My treat.”_ Alaric grinned.

 _“Let’s get some pizza.”_ Hope said.

Alaric pulled out his phone are ordered their food.

 _“I think this calls for a celebration.”_ Alaric said as he headed into his cupboard and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. _“Who wants one?”_

 _“I’ll have one.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Ah fuck it, it’s been a stressful couple of days. Give me one as well.”_ Josie shook her head. _“As long as you both promise it is only one drink.”_

Alaric and Hope both nodded in agreement. Then Alaric pulled 3 glasses from the kitchen cupboard and brought them to the coffee table. He poured the liquid into the glasses and handed one to each of the girls. _“To Hope.”_ He gestured, raising the glass.

 _“To Josie, without whom no one wouldn’t have their memories back.”_ Hope grinned as she leaned down and kissed her.

 _“I love you.”_ Josie replied.

 _I love you too baby. Always and forever.”_ Hope smiled.

It was around 7pm when the food finally arrived. The three of them had been talking away. It was the first time in about 3 weeks that Alaric had a full-blown conversation with Hope. He wasn’t acting weird about Hope and Josie’s relationship anymore. In a way, he’d grown to accept it. I mean Josie was dating Hope Mikaelson after all, there isn’t anyone else in the world that you would want to protect your family.

 _“So Hope… Does this mean you will go back to the Salvatore School now?”_ Alaric asked. _“I’m not saying that to get rid of you but… You are so much better off there than you are at Mystic Falls High.”_

 _“I don’t know to be honest Alaric. I mean, a part of me wants to go back because it will mean that I will get to see Josie every day… But then a part of me doesn’t want too, because it would mean having to accept that I didn’t actually close the portal and I don’t know how people will take that. And the fact that pretty much everyone there still doesn’t have their memories.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Well I can sort that out. I mean… I can give them their memories back. We have a school assembly in the morning. I can do it then. If you want me too?”_ Josie smiled as she took Hope’s hand in her own and squeezed it.

 _“Erm yeah, I guess… I mean if you don’t mind? But what will you tell them, because if they are going to pass out for 2 hours, people are going to have some questions?”_ Hope puzzled.

 _“Well, if you came to school in the morning with my Dad then he can do the talking… I think he can persuade Dorian to allow it. Vardermus as disappeared again so basically Dorian is running the school at the minute.”_ Josie shrugged.

 _“I’m up for some damage control.”_ Alaric laughed.

 _“Okay then. Me and Alaric will come by the school in the morning and you can give everyone their memories back. I mean, if it fails then it doesn’t really matter because the most important people in my life have their memories.”_ Hope smiled at Josie.

It was around 9pm when Alaric took Josie back to school. Hope and Josie said their goodbyes at the house and Hope decided to go for a run. She only went for a short run and was back just before 11pm. When she got home, she had a quick shower then went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, whether she liked it or not. It was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'm thinking of bringing this story to a close in the next 2 or 3 chapters D:   
> I'm ready to start a new story :D so, you'll still get another couple of chapters before that happens!


	14. The One Where Everyone Gets Their Memories Back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I got a serious case of writer's block. But I am back now :D  
> My story isn't going to end in the next 2 chapters like I originally planned. So yay? 
> 
> I also wanted to give a quick shoutout to Taengoo1 for encouraging me to write more and for giving me some ideas to run with xD
> 
> So with that being said. I hope you enjoy these next 2 chapters!

Chapter 14- The One Where Everyone Gets Their Memories Back.

It was 7am when Josie’s alarm went off. She groaned as she rolled over to turn it off. Lizzie was still asleep in the bed next to her. Josie forced herself up and she sat in her bed for a few minutes before she finally decided to move. Josie checked her phone and she realised that she had a message from Hope.

**Hope:** _Good morning baby. Me and your Dad will be in around 9am. Actually nervous about coming back there :/ xxx_

Josie smiled as she read it. She quickly typed out a reply.

**Josie:** _Good morning beautiful. That’s fine. I’ll let Dorian know. Awe baby there’s no need to be nervous. It’ll be fine. :) Plus, if you make it through this in one piece… I have a surprise for you ;) <3 xxx_

**Hope:** _Ooo, what is it? :D <3 xxx_

**Josie:** _If you behave, you’ll find out :P <3 xxx_

**Hope:** _Ugh, not fair… See you soon baby <3 xxx_

_“Ugh God. What’s got you smiling like a weirdo at 7:15 in the morning?”_ Lizzie groaned as she sat up to face Josie.

 _“Hope’s coming in today.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Why is she coming in?”_ Lizzie frowned.

_“Oh, erm, her and Dad are coming in because I’m giving everyone their memories back.”_

_“That doesn’t explain why she is coming in though.”_

_“She’s coming in because she wants to make sure everything works out and Dad is coming in to do damage control… OH! That reminds me. When everyone gets knocked out, I need you to stay out of the bedroom.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Why do I need to stay out of the… Ohhh wait, never mind.”_ Lizzie shook her head. _“And no I won’t. I don’t want to be stuck with MG and Dad for 2 hours. I’d rather watch paint dry.”_

 _“Lizzie please. I’m begging you here. Plus you owe me.”_ Josie pleaded.

 _“I don’t owe you anything…”_ Lizzie replied.

_“Oh yes you do! After walking in on us yesterday… you owe me.”_

_“That still doesn’t mean I owe you.”_ Lizzie laughed.

 _“Okay, well I didn’t want to do this, but you are forcing my hand.”_ Josie unlocked her phone and opened up her photo album, pulling up the picture she took of Lizzie and MG yesterday. _“If you don’t let me and Hope have the bedroom to ourselves… I will print out this picture and post it all over the school.”_ Josie said as she stood up from the bed and showed the photo to Lizzie.

 _“You wouldn’t dare… Did you take this yesterday?”_ Lizzie frowned as she tried to reach for Josie’s phone.

 _“Ah, not a chance… This is not the only copy of the photo.”_ Josie grinned as she quickly pulled the phone away before Lizzie could grab it.

 _“Ugh. FINE! I’ll stay away. Just don’t show anyone that photo. I look horrendous.”_ Lizzie scoffed as she forced herself off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

 _“Love you Lizzie!”_ Josie called after her, laughing. Josie jumped across the room to her dresser. She pulled out a fresh uniform and got dressed. She danced around the room for a while before she finally decided to head down for breakfast.

MG was sat in the dining room when she arrived. _“Hey! What’s got you in such a good mood?”_ MG asked.

 _“Hope’s coming in today.”_ Josie beamed.

 _“Didn’t you see her like 12 hours ago?”_ MG replied.

 _“Yeah, but today everyone is getting their memories back and that will finally give me and Hope some time alone. I’ve already convinced Lizzie to give me the bedroom… But I need you to keep both my dad and Lizzie busy.”_ Josie responded.

 _“Oh fair enough, it’s cool that she is coming in today. But what do I get in return for keeping your dad busy? I can cope with Lizzie, but having to look after both of them, I’m going to need something in return.”_ MG laughed.

_“Fine okay, what do you want?”_

_“I want a Marvel movies night.”_ MG shrugged.

 _“Fine, fine… I’ll do it.”_ Josie huffed, but secretly she couldn’t wait.

 _“Good. So what time are they getting here?”_ MG asked.

 _“In… 40 minutes.”_ Josie stated as she checked her phone.

 _“Okay, so how is this going to work? I mean… What’s the plan?”_ MG questioned.

 _“So during the assembly, Dorian is going to introduce Hope as a new student joining the school, Me and Lizzie will do our “welcome to the school, we’ll give you a tour” bit then I’ll give everyone their memories back.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Cool, cool. Feels like the Super Squad is back at it.”_ MG laughed.

Josie and MG carried on talking for a while until she got a text from Hope.

**Hope:** _Just pulling up now babe xxx_

_“Hope’s here, gotta go. See you in a bit MG.”_ Josie said as she stood up and skipped out the dining room.

Josie met Hope and Alaric by the school entrance. _“Morning Dad!”_ She greeted him with a hug.

 _“Morning Josie.”_ Alaric replied. _“I’m going to go and find Dorian.”_

Josie stepped towards Hope. _“Good morning beautiful.”_ Josie smiled as she pulled Hope into a kiss.

 _“Good morning baby.”_ Hope smiled back.

 _“Are you ready for this?”_ Josie asked as she rested her hands on Hope’s cheeks.

 _“I guess.”_ Hope shrugged as she placed her hands on top of Josie’s and gave her palms a simple kiss before she took her right hand in her own and they walked towards the Great Hall for the assembly.

Hope sat down next to Josie, Lizzie and MG. _“Hey guys.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“Ugh, I can’t wait for everyone to get their memories back, hopefully you’ll be less of a pain in the ass.”_ Lizzie commented.

 _“Hey, Hope.”_ MG replied.

 _“Funny. I was just going to say the same about you Lizzie.”_ Hope laughed.

Over the other side of the room Landon and Raf walked in and sat down. Landon’s eyes wandered around the room before they finally landed on Josie. _“Hey Raf, who’s that girl sat next to Josie?”_ Landon frowned.

 _“I think her name is Hope. I’ve seen her around Mystic Falls.”_ Raf replied. _“She’s hot.”_

 _“Oh, I shared a milkshake with her once. Since when did she become friends with Josie?”_ Landon asked.

 _“Oh cool, so you know her then. Do you think you can put in a good word for me?”_ Raf smiled. “ _Oh wait... Never mind.”_ Raf and Landon both spotted Hope leaning into kiss Josie’s cheek.

 _“Do you think that’s the person Josie cheated on me with?”_ Landon frowned.

 _“I don’t know, maybe? I thought you were over Josie anyway…”_ Raf replied.

 _“I was… I am… Just seeing her with someone else… hurts.”_ Landon shook his head and turned his attention to Dorian who was just about to start the assembly.

_“Good morning everyone. I just have a few announcements this morning. The first thing is: Whoever keeps enchanting paper airplanes, please stop. Pedro got poked in the eye, luckily, he wasn’t hurt. The second: Can the seniors please remember to continue with your mentoring sessions as they account for 2/3 of your personal development grade. And for the last point I am going to ask Doctor Saltzman to come up and speak to you all. Alaric…”_ Dorian stated as he gestured to Alaric.

 _“Hey everyone. So I am here to talk to you about what happened with the Malivore Pit.”_ Alaric took a deep breath and looked at Hope. _“But first things first… Josie, Hope… Will you come up here?”_

There were a few murmurs escaping from some of the students. They all seemed confused by what was happening. Hope took hold of Josie’s hand as they made their way up to the front of the assembly. _“Are you ready?”_ Hope whispered.

 _“Yeah. I can do this…”_ Josie replied as she squeezed Hope’s hand. Josie took a deep breath and started syphoning magic from Hope, then her eyes turned black and her hands shot out in front of her and she started repeating _“Harae-tamai Kioku Yomigaerashi-tamae”_ a couple of times, each time with more conviction than the last. The black wave escaped from Josie’s hands and washed over every person at the school. Within seconds everyone except for Josie, Lizzie, Hope, MG and Alaric slumped over in their seats.

 _“Well, that went… better than I thought it would.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“That’s because Josie knows what she’s doing.”_ Hope replied.

Lizzie and MG stood up and joined the other three.

 _“So what are we going to do now?”_ MG asked.

 _“Well me and Hope are going to go for a walk.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“We are?”_ Hope tilted her face towards Josie.

 _“Yes.”_ Josie said as she kissed Hope’s cheek. _“It’s time for you to get naked.”_ She whispered, Hope whimpered slightly, and MG choked on thin air. Lizzie and Alaric just stared at him, confused.

 _“You okay there, MG?”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Yup, yup… I’m fine.”_ MG mumbled as he tried to avert his eyes away from the couple.

 _“That teaches you not to listen to other people’s conversations.”_ Hope grinned.

 _“Noted. Have fun girls.”_ MG said as he stared at the floor.

 _“See you later guys.”_ Josie smiled as she pulled Hope out of the room.

 _“I don’t wanna know what just happened do I?”_ Lizzie asked.

 _“No, no you don’t.”_ MG shook his head.

***

Josie and Hope made their way through the eerily quiet school up to Josie’s bedroom. They had stopped just short of the door when Josie turned to Hope and said, _“Wait here for one minute”_ then kissed her before she disappeared into the bedroom.

Josie rushed into the room and cast a quick spell to materialise some candles, lighting them. Then she hung some fairy lights across the bed’s headboard. She quickly shoved Lizzie’s clothes into her dresser and had one last look around to make sure that the room was presentable before she walked over to the door and welcomed Hope inside.

Hope’s eyes wandered across the room. _“Baby, this is beautiful. You are beautiful.”_ Hope smiled and stepped closer to Josie and kissed her.

 _“Thanks baby. I did this for you. I even blackmailed Lizzie to stay out of the room, so we could actually be alone. But for safe measures I’ll put a spell on the door.”_ Josie smiled back.

Josie spelled the door shut then turned back to Hope and pulled her into a deep and passionate kiss. She started to walk Hope backwards until her legs hit the edge of the bed. Hope broke their kiss as she kicked her shoes off then sat down on the bed and shuffled herself into the middle, propping herself up by the pillows. Josie climbed on after her and straddled her legs. Their lips met again in a fiery passion.

Josie made quick work of Hope’s top, pulling it off and throwing it on the floor. Hope reignited their kiss, she rolled her tongue across the brunette’s lip before she slipped it inside her mouth. Josie moaned at the intrusion, welcoming it with her own tongue. She placed her hands onto Hope’s cheeks and pulled her closer. Hope toyed with the bottom of Josie’s shirt, pulling at it, pushing it up and dragging her nails slightly across the brunette’s skin.

After a few minutes of intense and passionate kissing, Hope had had enough with toying with her girlfriend’s shirt and she ripped it open, causing the buttons to fly around the room. _“That was my favourite shirt.”_ Josie pouted.

Hope responded by planting her face in the brunette’s cleavage and started to leave a trail of kisses across her chest. _“Sorry baby.”_ She muttered as she pulled the now torn shirt from Josie’s arms and snaked her hand up her girlfriends back and unclasped her bra. She teared the article from Josie’s body and forced her down onto her back. Hope started kissing along the brunette’s collarbone, occasionally grazing her teeth across her soft spots, knowing that it drives her mad.

As Josie felt Hope’s teeth on her neck for the first time today, her hands immediately found themselves on the redhead’s back, her nails digging and dragging across Hope’s skin. _“Fuck… I love that.”_ Hope moaned into her neck. Josie laughed and dug her nails in again, causing Hope to bite down slightly on her neck as she rocked into her. The brunette unclasped the older girl’s bra and pulled it off her body. She used all her strength to flip Hope over and she sat on top of her. Josie bent her head down and laid kisses and a few hickeys on Hope’s neck and collarbone.

After Josie was happy with her work, she started to move down Hope’s body. She kissed her way onto Hope’s breasts. Her fingers danced lightly across her skin as she took a nipple in her mouth. Her tongue flicked across the little nub as she gently grazed her teeth on the sensitive area, eliciting a small moan from Hope. Eventually Josie let the nipple fall out of her mouth and she took the other one in her mouth, giving it the same treatment before she let it fall and she started to leave a trail of kisses down her girlfriend’s body.

Josie stopped just short of Hope’s trousers. Her hands hovered slightly as she looked up to meet Hope’s gaze. _“It’s okay baby, I want this…”_ Hope smiled as she brought her hand up to Josie’s cheek, running her thumb across the brunette’s lips. Josie grinned and quickly gave Hope a passionate kiss before she returned to her previous position, shuffling herself to the bottom of Hope’s legs.

Josie hurriedly unbuttoned Hope’s trousers and whipped them from her legs. Hope gasped and Josie giggled before she dropped her head down to Hope’s thigh and started kissing her way up the shorter girl’s legs until she reached her centre. Josie gently slipped her finger into the edge of Hope’s thong and ran her mid-knuckle along her full length. The brunette dipped her head and placed a simple kiss at the top of her girlfriend’s slit, before she smoothly parted the folds and let her tongue move freely down from her little bundle of nerves to her entrance and back again. Josie continued this motion for a while as she could feel Hope withering underneath her, occasionally her little moans filled the room.

Just as soon as Josie inserted a finger inside Hope’s wet entrance the bedroom door burst open and Lizzie rushed in. _“Oh God!”_ She gagged.

 _“For fuck sake Lizzie… I told you not to bother us!”_ Josie shouted as she glared at her sister, her finger still inside Hope.

 _“I know. It’s just… We have a problem.”_ Lizzie stated.

 _“Well, deal with it then!”_ Josie retorted.

 _“We can’t… we need Hope!”_ Lizzie spat. _“Come on, we don’t have time for this!”_

 _“For God sake! Fine… Leave, so we can get dressed please.”_ Josie stared.

Lizzie just groaned as she turned and walked out the door. _“Hurry up though!”_

 _“Ugh! Let’s just face it… We are never going to have sex.”_ Hope groaned as her head dropped back on the mattress.

 _“We will, one day… I promise baby.”_ Josie smiled as she finally removed her finger from inside Hope and placed it in her own mouth, sucking it clean.

 _“You look soo hot when you do that.”_ Hope grinned as she forced herself up to sitting and pulled Josie into a kiss.

 _“We should really get dressed.”_ Josie groaned as she rested her head on Hope’s shoulder.

***

After Josie and Hope walked away, there was only Lizzie, MG and Alaric left with about 100 passed out students and a handful of teachers. It felt kind of strange that they were the only ones awake. Alaric walked around all the students and teachers to make sure they were all still breathing before he returned to Lizzie and MG.

 _“So what do you want to do for the next 2 hours?”_ MG asked.

 _“I don’t really care.”_ Lizzie replied as she flopped down into a chair. _“Why does Josie have to spend time with Hope anyway? It’s not fair that I get cast aside. I’m her sister.”_

 _“Yeah, and Hope is her girlfriend. She’s allowed to spend time with her. Plus we all know that they have been vibing for years.”_ MG replied.

 _“Yeah but it’s still my sister. It’s gross.”_ Lizzie shook her head.

 _“What are you talking about?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“Nothing daddy.”_ Lizzie smiled.

 _“I probably don’t want to know anyway.”_ Alaric shook his head. _“So they all seem to be fine, but I think we should stay in here just in case something goes wrong.”_

After about an hour, MG heard a noise coming from outside the school, he stood up and walked over to a window and peered outside. _“Erm. Guys, we have a problem…”_ He stated.

 _“What is it MG?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“There’s a horde of zombies walking towards the school.”_ MG panicked. Alaric and Lizzie ran to the window to see for themselves.

 _“Right, that’s a problem considering we have over 100 kids passed out right now. Lizzie go and get Hope.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“Josie will kill me, I’m not going.”_ Lizzie retorted.

 _“LIZZIE! GO AND GET HOPE NOW! Don’t argue with me.”_ Alaric replied.

 _“Well, it’ll be your fault when you have to plan my funeral.”_ Lizzie huffed as she walked away.

 _“MG, we need to barricade the main doors… Can you find some things to prop against it? I’ll go and get some weapons.”_ Alaric asked.

 _“Sure thing Doctor S.”_ MG nodded then sped out of the room.

MG started to push some tables and chairs up against the door, whilst Alaric headed down to the armoury to collect his crossbow, a machete and an axe. When he arrived back at the main doors, the zombies had busted the glass of the doors and were trying to force their way inside.

 _“What the hell is happening?”_ Hope huffed as she joined the others.

 _“We’re being attacked by zombies. Again!”_ MG shouted as he leaned his weight against the furniture that was placed in front of the door.

Alaric threw an axe over to Hope and she caught it. _“Right, MG. Move away from the door and let them come in. I’m ready.”_ Hope stated.

MG did what he was told. He sped over to Alaric and picked up a machete, before joining Hope near the door. It didn’t take the zombie’s long to break through the barricade. Josie and Lizzie appeared just as the first zombie made its way over to Hope and MG. Hope noticed the girls out of the corner of her eye. _“Josie get back!”_ She snarled.

 _“Oh thanks Hope! What about me?”_ Lizzie quipped.

 _“I couldn’t really care less about you at the minute Lizzie.”_ Hope retorted as her axe connected with the first Zombie’s head, slicing it in half.

 _“I thought that with you dating my sister that it would have made you soft… I guess it just made you more of a bitch.”_ Lizzie snorted, then screamed when zombie brains splattered her clothes. _“HOPE! Watch what you are doing!”_

 _“Move out the way then Lizzie! GOD use your brain for once!”_ Hope spat as she sliced through another zombie. Lizzie just stood there, she was about to say something when a zombie ran up to her, she screamed. MG quickly turned on his heels and sliced the head off the zombie that was trying to attack Lizzie. Blood splattered her face. Lizzie ran to the nearest bathroom, quickly followed by Josie.

Hope, MG and Alaric made quick work of killing the zombies. After they killed the last one Hope ran to find Josie. She found her in the bathroom with Lizzie, trying to get blood and brains out of her sister’s hair and clothes. _“Hey baby, I’m glad you’re safe.”_ Hope said as she rushed over and pulled her into a hug from behind and kissed her cheek.

 _“Yeah baby, I’m fine.”_ Josie smiled.

 _“Yeah, I’m fine too. Thanks for asking Hope.”_ Lizzie scoffed. Hope raised her eyebrow and laughed dryly.

 _“You two need to learn how to be nice to each other.”_ Josie stated.

 _“I would be a lot nicer to her if she didn’t constantly walk in on us when we are trying to have sex.”_ Hope replied.

 _“Oh, do you really think I would do it on purpose? I am permanently scarred for life after what I have witnessed.”_ Lizzie retorted.

 _“I don’t know Lizzie, seems to me like you enjoy walking in…”_ Hope deadpanned.

 _“Gross Hope.”_ Lizzie shook her head then walked out of the bathroom.

 _“Finally, we are alone… again.”_ Hope smiled as she spun Josie around, pushed her up against the wall and kissed her, slightly more forcefully than necessary, although Josie didn’t mind it.

Josie finally broke the kiss when she said _“You know, it wouldn’t kill you too be nicer to her. I do have to live with her and so do you.”_

Hope moved her head from Josie’s lips to her neck and started nipping slightly at the skin. _“I know, but she just annoys me so much sometimes.”_ Hope mumbled against Josie’s skin. Her hands trailed down from Josie’s waist to her thighs, gently but greedily playing with the hem of the brunette’s skirt. Her fingers lifted the skirt slightly and slowly inched their way to her ass until she reached Josie’s cheeks and pulled her closer.

 _“Fuck me… you are so horny after you’ve been fighting.”_ Josie moaned.

 _“You don’t know the half of it.”_ Hope moaned as she started to kiss down Josie’s chest. Josie’s hands found themselves tangled up in Hope’s hair.

 _“Well that’s… new.”_ Alyssa Chang’s smug voice rang out across the bathroom. _“I thought you were dating that weirdo boy… Landon.”_

 _“Fuck off Alyssa.”_ Hope growled.

 _“Don’t get use to… whatever it is you two are doing… It won’t last long, now that everyone has their memories back.”_ Alyssa laughed dryly before she quickly turned on her heels and walked back out. Hope dropped her hands from Josie’s ass and rested them on the wall either side of her then she rested her head on the brunette’s shoulder. _“Looks like people are starting to wake up.”_ Hope sighed.

 _“Seems like it.”_ Josie smiled slightly. _“Are you ready?”_ Josie placed her hands on Hope’s cheeks, lifting her face.

 _“Yeah… Just remember that whatever happens, know that I love you.”_ Hope replied as she gave Josie a quick kiss before she stepped away from her girlfriend and shook her head.

 _“I love you too Hope. Okay, let’s go.”_ Josie smiled as she took Hope’s hand in her own and they left the bathroom.

Hope and Josie walked hand in hand down the corridor until they reached the Great Hall. Hope let her hand fall from her girlfriend’s as they entered the room. Immediately, Landon spotted Hope and ran over to her.

 _“HOPE! Thank god! I can’t believe you’re alive. I’m so happy to see you. I’ve missed you.”_ He pulled Hope into a hug then kissed her.


	15. We Need to Make a Plan.

Chapter 15- We Need to Make a Plan.

Hope was frozen in place when she felt Landon’s lips touch her own. She couldn’t help but kiss him back, even though every fibre in her body told her not to. Her mind was racing, she understood why Landon was doing this, because before she went into Malivore she was in a relationship with Landon. But she was now in a relationship with Josie, that Landon didn’t know about.

Josie couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She was suddenly hit with a wave of jealousy, sadness, resentment and hatred. Tears started to fill her eyes and she ran out of the room. Hope broke her kiss with Landon and turned to run after Josie, but Lizzie stopped her. _“You really fucked up this time Hope.”_ Lizzie spat as she followed Josie out of the room.

Landon looked at Hope, confused. _“What was all that about?”_ He asked.

 _“Landon… We should talk.”_ Hope twisted her lips.

 _“Alright students! Please sit down!”_ Alaric called from the front of the room. There were hurried murmurs coming from the students, but they all sat down. Landon pulled Hope to the nearest free seats and they sat down. _“As you will be aware now, you have been given your memories back. Memories of Hope Mikaelson. Yes, she did jump into Malivore… but she is back now. Please don’t let it distract you from your studies. I’ve agreed with Dorian that you can take today off from your lessons to give you time to adjust again. But school will start again tomorrow. So enjoy your free time. You’re all dismissed.”_ Alaric concluded. _“Oh wait. I need some of the upperclassmen to help clear the zombie bodies from the main doors please.”_

As the students started to pile out of the room, a few of them greeted Hope, but most of them just stared at her in a sort of disbelief. Hope found those stares the most difficult. She hated being the centre of attention, she was used to living on the outside of other people’s lives with most people not paying attention to her. This was definitely something that she never wanted to experience again and right now, all she wanted to do was to talk to Josie. Hope found herself burying her hands in her face.

 _“Hey, Hope. Are you okay?”_ Landon asked.

 _“No, Landon. We need to talk. But not here.”_ Hope replied.

_“Well, let’s go to my room. We can talk in there?”_

_“No, not there. Let’s go to the Old Mill. It should be quiet there.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Okay?”_ Landon looked puzzled, but he stood up anyway, pulled Hope up with him and took her hand in his own. Hope released her hand from his grasp then folded her arms across her chest as they made their way to the Old Mill. Landon tried to make conversation but Hope just ignored him, as she tried to gather her thoughts.

As they approached the Old Mill, Hope did a quick scan of the area to make sure it was clear before she sat down on the steps. Landon followed.

 _“What’s going on then Hope?”_ Landon asked as he sat down next to Hope.

 _“When I came back from Malivore… I really struggled to adjust. I lived in a motel for two months before Alar… Doctor Saltzman took me in. I even went to Mystic Falls High School and actually enjoyed it because the name Hope Mikaelson didn’t mean anything anymore. And then I came here… For the football game and I saw you and Josie… And my heart felt like it was breaking all over again. Then Josie came to Doctor Saltzman’s after the game to check on her dad after he got in that fight with Vardermus… Anyways, the point is I’m in a relationship with Josie. And I love her. She is the reason why everyone got their memories back. She ran off to New Orleans and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. What I’m trying to say is… As much as I care about you and I wish I didn’t have to do this, but we can’t be together anymore.”_ Hope spoke with sadness in her voice.

 _“No Hope. I don’t believe this. After everything we went through, I don’t accept that you would break up with me. You lied to me many times. You lied to me about my mother and about us finding her. But I still love you Hope. I won’t give up on us easily.”_ Landon replied.

 _“You need to accept it Landon. I am happy with Josie. I want a life with her.”_ Hope stated as she stood up to walk away.

 _“No, this is not happening. You can’t just leave me like that Hope!”_ Landon stood up and followed her. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around then kissed her.

Hope pushed him away. _“Don’t ever do that again. I have told you that I don’t want to be with you, you need to accept it and move on.”_ Hope turned and walked away.

 _“You’ll come back to me eventually Hope. You know you will. You will inevitably break Josie’s heart then you’ll come running back.”_ Landon called after her.

***

After Josie witnessed Hope and Landon kissing, she ran out of the hall, crying. She knows that what happened wasn’t Hope’s fault, but it didn’t stop her from wanting to break everything in sight. She was so full of rage and hurt coursing through her, she didn’t know what to do. She ran to her bedroom and within seconds of hitting the mattress, Lizzie burst into the room. She walked over to Josie and joined her on the bed, pulling her into a hug. _“It will be okay Jose. I told Hope that she fucked up and she knows that she did. You will get through this.”_ Lizzie spoke softly as she stroked her sister’s hair.

 _“What did you do that for?! She couldn’t help it! How was she meant to know that Landon was going to kiss her when he saw her? They did used to date before we got together. So it’s understandable that he still sees her that way, because they never technically broke up. It just hurts because I wasn’t expecting it.”_ Josie sobbed. _“God Lizzie, do you ever use your brain before you speak?”_ Josie sat up to face Lizzie.

Lizzie looked shocked by her sister’s outburst. _“Wait… I’m confused. If Hope didn’t fuck up, then why are you crying like she just broke your heart?”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“Have you seriously not listened to anything I just said? I am crying because I love her, and I completely forgot that she was in a relationship with Landon before we all lost our memories. And I’m worried that she will go back to him.”_ Josie replied. _“You know what, I can’t deal with you right now.”_ Josie shuffled herself off the bed and left the bedroom, leaving a dumbfounded Lizzie on her bed.

Josie walked out of the school and headed down to the lake. She needed to be alone for a while, to clear her head. Josie was sat on the edge of the dock with her legs hanging over the edge. She had been there for a while and she was starting to feel more at peace. Her tears had stopped rolling down her face and she was toying with her phone in her hands when someone grabbed her from behind, placing their hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Her phone fell from her hands and fell into a nearby bush as she was being dragged backwards through the woods.

***

Hope had made her way to the Twin’s bedroom. She knocked on the door and waited. Lizzie rushed over to the door and yanked it open. _“Josie?”_ Lizzie asked. _“Oh. It’s you. What are you doing here?”_

 _“I am here to see Josie. Is she here?”_ Hope asked.

 _“No, she’s not here. She freaked out after you kissed Landon. She was here, then I told her that you fucked up and she freaked out again then left. She hasn’t come back yet. That was almost 2 hours ago.”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“Oh. Well have you tried looking for her? Surely, she couldn’t have gone far.”_ Hope frowned.

_“No I haven’t tried looking for her, she is usually back by now. She hasn’t answered my texts or calls.”_

_“I’ll try and ring her.”_ Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to call Josie. Her phone rang until it went to answer phone. _“Yeah, she’s not answering me either.”_

 _“Well can you blame her? After that stunt you pulled. I wouldn’t answer you either.”_ Lizzie quipped.

 _“Now is really not the time to be a bitch Lizzie. Josie is missing.”_ Hope panicked slightly.

 _“She will turn up. I would know if she was in trouble. She’s my twin.”_ Lizzie stated. _“Anyway, move. I’m hungry.”_

Lizzie barged passed Hope and headed down to the dining room for something to eat. Hope stood in the doorway to her girlfriend’s room until she heard Lizzie descending the stairs. Once she knew Lizzie was gone, she entered the room, sat on the floor and did a locator spell to find Josie. After a couple of minutes it showed that Josie was at the lake. Hope gathered the map and shoved it into her pocket then headed to find Josie.

It took Hope about ten minutes to walk there. On the way Hope rehearsed her speech she was going to give to Josie about how she is the only person Hope wants to be with and that she had broken up with Landon to be with her. When Hope arrived at the dock, Josie was no where to be seen. Hope looked everywhere, she decided to call her again. Hope pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Josie again. After a few seconds Hope could hear Josie’s ringtone. Hope looked around the area until she found where the noise was coming from. She bent down and picked up Josie’s phone, she ended her call and checked Josie’s phone, she had 4 texts and 2 calls from Lizzie, 2 texts from MG and 2 calls from Hope. _“Josie?! Josie?!”_ Hope called out as her eyes scanned the area.

There was no sign of her girlfriend. Hope quickly pocketed hers and Josie’s phones then stripped off and transitioned into her wolf form. Once she was fully in her wolf form, she sniffed the air to try and pick up Josie’s scent before she took off running through the woods. Hope managed to pick up Josie’s scent a few times, but then she lost it again. It felt like she is running in circles and not getting anywhere. Hope was getting annoyed with herself. She didn’t want to give up, but she knew she might have better luck with a locator spell. So she headed back to the lake and got dressed before she took off running to find Lizzie.

Hope burst through the main doors to the school and ran to the dining room. Lizzie was sat talking with MG when she ran in. _“Lizzie! Josie is missing!”_ Hope panted.

 _“You’ve officially lost it Mikaelson. Josie isn’t missing. I would know if she is missing. She is my twin.”_ Lizzie replied.

Hope pulled Josie’s phone out of her pocket. _“I found this out by the lake. It was in a bush. Tell me, why would Josie leave her phone in a bush?”_

 _“What have you done to my sister?”_ Lizzie spat.

_“I haven’t done anything to her! I did a locator spell to find her. She was at the lake, but by the time I got there, she was gone.”_

_“Well do another locator spell then. She couldn’t have gone far.”_ Lizzie retorted.

 _“I’m going to need your blood.”_ Hope stated before she quickly turned on her heels and headed back up to the Twin’s bedroom.

 _“That witch is going to bleed me dry if she carries on.”_ Lizzie shook her head as she forced herself up to follow Hope. _“See you in a bit MG.”_

Lizzie found Hope sat in the middle of her bedroom with everything laid out ready for the spell. Lizzie shook her head as she took a seat opposite Hope. _“You best be right about this.”_ Lizzie spoke, which caused Hope to break her concentration for a few seconds. Hope grunted then continued with what she was doing.

After a few minutes Hope finally spoke. _“Give me your hand.”_ Hope held out her own hand and Lizzie laid hers on top. Hope picked up the knife and placed a cut across Lizzie’s palm then turned it over to let the blood pool on the map. Both girls said the incantation and watched the page eagerly, waiting for the blood to start moving.

Five minutes passed by and the blood hadn’t moved from its spot. _“Why isn’t the blood moving? Did you do it wrong?”_ Lizzie quizzed.

 _“No, I didn’t do it wrong. I have done hundreds of locator spells! I don’t know why it isn’t working. There are only two reasons why a locator spell won’t work. One: she has been cloaked. Or two: she’s dead.”_ Hope replied, she winced as she said the second one. She wouldn’t live with herself if anything happened to Josie.

 _“Well she wouldn’t put a cloaking spell on herself. If she had, you wouldn’t have been able to find her at the lake in the first place. And I would know if she was dead. I would feel it. So someone must have her.”_ Lizzie stated. _“Can’t you like… wolf out and try to find her that way?”_

 _“I tried that, before I came to find you. Her scent kept moving and every time I thought I was getting close, it disappeared. I practically ran around the woods in circles looking for her. Whoever has her knows how to confuse a wolf.”_ Hope was pissed, she shoved everything out of the way and screamed. _“I’m going to find whoever has her and I am going to kill them!”_

 _“Calm down Hope. We will find her. We need to talk to my dad.”_ Lizzie tried to reassure her.

 _“Calm down?! Who the hell are you and what the fuck have you done to Lizzie Saltzman? YOU’RE SISTER IS MISSING!”_ Hope snarled.

 _“I know she is Hope, but one of us has to keep a level head and that clearly isn’t you right now.”_ Lizzie breathed.

Hope stood up and stormed out of the room. Lizzie huffed and followed her. Hope rushed through the school to find Alaric. She found him in Dorian’s office talking with Dorian and Emma. She burst through the doors. _“What’s going on Hope?”_ Alaric asked, slightly stunned by the sudden intrusion.

 _“Josie’s missing.”_ Hope hissed.

 _“What do you mean Josie is missing?”_ Emma asked.

 _“We can’t find her. Hope found her phone down by the lake and we did a locator spell, but we couldn’t get a read on her. Hope even wolfed out, but she couldn’t keep Josie’s scent for long.”_ Lizzie stated as she walked in behind Hope.

 _“She couldn’t have gone far. We’ll get a search party going. We’ll get some of vampires to go and check the woods. And we’ll get some of the witches to do a locator spell.”_ Emma said. _“Alaric, why don’t you go and organise the vampires and I’ll get the witches started. Dorian can you put the rest of the school on lockdown and then do a head count? Just to make sure no one else has gone.”_

 _“Yeah okay. I’ll get that sorted.”_ Dorian said as he rushed out of the room.

Alaric fell back into a chair in a state of disbelief. He didn’t listen to anything that Emma had just said. He shook his head then stood up. _“I need to check something.”_ Alaric muttered before he rushed out of the room and headed to his old office. Hope and Lizzie followed him. Once Alaric entered the office he headed over to the ‘bookshelf’ that kept the ascendant hidden and reached inside the illusion of books and pulled out the box. He unlocked it and found it empty.

He picked up the box, smashed it on the floor and screamed in rage. _“The ascendant is gone. Lizzie did you take it?”_ He stared at his daughter.

 _“No I didn’t. We promised we wouldn’t touch it until it was the last possible option!”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“Well we’re going to need to find it.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“How? It’s not like we can do a locator spell on it.”_ Hope replied.

 _“You’re right. A locator spell won’t work. I’ll call Bonnie. She should know how to find it. Hopefully she’s enchanted it or something.”_ Alaric shook his head as he pulled out his phone. _“She’s gonna kill me.”_

Hope and Lizzie looked at each other briefly before they turned their attention back to Alaric. He was on the phone with Bonnie and filled her in on what had happened with the ascendant. Alaric and Bonnie spoke for a few minutes before he hung up the phone.

 _“She needs to check something when she gets home. She said she will ring me back in fifteen minutes.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“Okay, so what are we going to do? We still need a plan to find Josie and if she is cloaked, we need to find a way to uncloak her.”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“I can phone my aunt. She might know a way.”_ Hope groaned. Then proceeded to pick up her phone and call her Aunt Freya.

**Freya:** _Hey Hope. Is everything okay?_

**Hope:** _Hey Aunt Freya. Erm, no not really. Do you know a way to uncloak someone even if you don’t know where they are?_

**Freya:** _Oh, erm. I’m not sure. I can have a look through some of the Grimoires, but off the top of my head I don’t think there is a way. What’s going on?_

**Hope:** _Oh. Erm… Someone has taken Josie; we can’t find her._

**Freya:** _Right okay. What have you tried to do so far?_

**Hope:** _Well initially I did a locator spell to find her. When everyone got their memories back, Landon kissed me and Josie saw, she ran out. I gave her space for a while before I went to look for her, I broke up with Landon, properly. And I wanted to tell her that. So I did a locator spell and it said she was down by the lake. But when I got there, I couldn’t find her. I found her phone in the bush. So I wolfed out and tried to pick up her scent, but it was all over the place and I couldn’t get a read on her… It was like she kept moving in all different directions. She doesn’t know the full extent of a werewolf’s abilities, so she wouldn’t know how to cover her trail. I looked everywhere for her. I gave up after an hour and went to find her sister. When I found Lizzie, I did the blood location spell, but nothing happened. The blood didn’t even move on the page._

**Freya:** _Awe hunni, I’m sorry that you’re going through this. And I hate to bring this up, but… you know that there may be another reason for why the locator spell didn’t work, right?_

**Hope:** _Yeah, I know… But that hasn’t happened. Lizzie would know and she hasn’t felt anything._

**Freya:** _What do you mean she hasn’t felt anything?_

**Hope:** _Josie and Lizzie are twins, but they are also part of the Gemini Coven. They have a… weird connection to say the least. But they can sense each other, so Lizzie would know if Josie is hurt… Or…_

**Freya:** _Say no more… I’ll have a look through the Grimoires, and I’ll get back to you. Okay? Everything will be fine Hope._

**Hope:** _I hope you’re right Aunt Freya, I don’t know what I’d do without her._

**Freya:** _You’ll get through this Hope. I’ll give you a call in a little while okay?_

**Hope:** _Thanks Aunt Freya._

**Freya:** _Bye sweetie._

_“She’s going to check through some of the Grimoire’s and get back to me.”_ Hope groaned as she flopped onto the sofa in Alaric’s office and ran her hands across her face. _“I hate feeling so… useless. I should be out there looking for her!”_

 _“I want to be out there as much as you do Hope, but we can’t go looking for her if we don’t know where to start. Let’s just wait to see what Bonnie and Freya have to say.”_ Alaric tried to reassure Hope, but he didn’t believe what he was saying.

The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Alaric’s phone rang.

**Alaric:** _Hey Bonnie, did you find anything out?_

**Bonnie:** _Hey Ric. Erm yeah. So it looks like someone accessed the Ascendant at 12:30pm. I can’t tell you who though. But whoever did it must have some serious power. There hasn’t been a mystical event for a while. There are only two ways to access it, one is through Bennett blood and a mystical event and the other way is through some serious black magic. Has anyone at the school used black magic recently?_

**Alaric:** _Erm. Yes? Josie used black magic to give everyone their memories of Hope Mikaelson back._

**Bonnie:** _Ah yes. I remembered Hope as well. Well, that alone shouldn’t have triggered the Ascendant. Are there any particular students that have experience with black magic?_

**Alaric:** _Other than Josie and Hope… No, I don’t know of any other students._

**Bonnie:** _Are you sure that they didn’t do it?_

**Alaric:** _Are you seriously accusing my daughter right now Bonnie? Josie is missing. She didn’t do this. Neither did Hope for that matter._

**Bonnie:** _I’m sorry Ric, I had to ask._

**Alaric:** _I know._

**Bonnie:** _If Kai is out… I want him dead just as much as you do. Give me an hour and I’ll drop by the school._

**Alaric:** _Okay, see you soon Bonnie._

Just as Alaric ended the call with Bonnie, Emma rushed into the office. _“Hey, so we’ve done a head count and the only person that is missing other than Josie is Alyssa Chang.”_

 _“Alyssa Chang? Are you sure?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“Yes, we double checked. We can’t find her. No one has seen her since the assembly.”_ Emma replied.

 _“Actually… Me and Josie saw her. She walked in on us in the bathroom. She said something to me, but I thought she was just being her usual bitchy self. She said “Don’t get use to… whatever it is you two are doing… It won’t last long, now that everyone has their memories back.” I thought she was just making a comment about Landon. What if she has something to do with Josie being missing?”_ Hope started to get angry.

 _“What were you and Josie doing in the bathroom?”_ Lizzie asked.

 _“We were just… talking.”_ Hope lowered her eyes to the floor, not willing to admit that she was actually in the bathroom trying to fuck Josie.

 _“Hmm sure you were.”_ Lizzie narrowed her eyes.

 _“Girls, enough. We need to make a plan or something. And we need to find Alyssa.”_ Alaric stated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger! It will all be worth it... I hope! Please don't be mad at me hahaha.


	16. Josie Isn't The Only One That Is Missing.

Chapter 16- Josie Isn’t the Only One Missing.

_“What’s so important about Alyssa that has you both so worried?”_ Lizzie asked Emma and Alaric.

Emma and Alaric just looked at each other, like they were silently trying to decide if they should actually admit what they have done. After a few minutes Alaric shook his head, took a deep breath and started to speak. _“So, Alyssa has had a… chequered past, to say the least. When we found her, she was sat on the steps of her house. It had been blown up. We aren’t exactly sure how it happened, but we knew it was magic-related. We get alerted to any supernatural uprising that involves children…”_

 _“What Alaric is trying to say is Alyssa had the ability to perform black magic without any consequences, like Hope in some ways. But Alyssa didn’t know when enough was enough and it infected her. We had a couple incidents with her. And we had to send her away. We, erm, we sent her to the Prison World.”_ Emma spoke softly.

 _“It’s not as bad as it sounds, they only spend a day there… But it’s longer in there, so they feel like they have been in there a week. When we bring them back out, we erase their memories. I’m guessing that Josie’s spell brought back her prison world memories as well.”_ Alaric replied.

Lizzie and Hope stared at them both in disbelief. Hope was the first to speak. _“How many people have you actually done this to?”_

 _“In the past twelve years? Five people. But we only did it in extreme circumstances. And with Alyssa, we did it twice. The first time was when she kept causing fights, spreading rumours and turned you and your sister purple… Then the second time was when she set you on fire and you ended up in the hospital.”_ Alaric took Lizzie’s hands in his own. _“We just wanted to protect you and the students. We tried to manage her, but we failed.”_

 _“Well we need to find her and if she has done something to the Ascendant then we need to deal with that as well.”_ Hope stated.

Out of nowhere Freya appeared. _“Hey guys, sorry to drop in like this.”_

 _“How did you get in here?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“She’s not actually here. It’s astral projection. Hey Aunt Freya.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“How did she know where we were?”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“Oh I didn’t mean to drop in on all of you, I just focused on Hope. I can go if you’re too busy now.”_ Freya said.

 _“No, it’s okay Freya, you could probably do with hearing this.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“We were just talking about the Ascendant and how they decided to throw bad students into the Prison World.”_ Hope shook her head.

 _“Ookay then. Well I have some information that might be useful in trying to locate your missing witch.”_ Freya stated.

 _“It’s actually two… missing witches.”_ Emma said as she made a tight-lipped smile.

 _“Right. So I’ve had a look through some of the Grimoires and there is a way to uncloak someone. But it’s a long and difficult process. It takes over 24 hours to prepare. So I’m going to get on the next flight out to you. Vincent, Davina and Keelin will be coming out as well. Kol is going to look after Nik for us. There are a few things that you will need to get in the meantime. I’m not sure how difficult it will be for you, but we need Bennett blood. Is there any chance you have some lying around the school somewhere?”_ Freya asked.

 _“That’s shouldn’t be a problem. Bonnie is actually on her way here now. She’s concerned about the Ascendant being activated by black magic and if Kai is out, she will help us.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“Okay, well I’ll send Hope a text with everything else I need. I will bring as much as I can with me. But I’ll see you all in a few hours.”_ Freya replied.

 _“Do you need someone to pick you all up from the airport?”_ Emma asked.

 _“No it’s okay, we will just rent a car.”_ Freya replied. _“I’ll see you soon Hope. Bye guys.”_ Freya disappeared soon after.

It wasn’t long before Hope had a text with a list of instructions. _“Lizzie can you help me?”_ Hope asked.

 _“No, I don’t want to. I want to stay here with my Dad.”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“Lizzie. Help Hope. The quicker you two get it done the quicker we can find Josie.”_ Alaric stated.

 _“Ugh. Fine.”_ Lizzie groaned as she stood up. _“What do you need me to do?”_

 _“I’ll send you half the list.”_ Hope replied as she headed out the door to start her tasks.

 _“Always so bossy.”_ Lizzie groaned.

 _“Lizzie, behave.”_ Alaric frowned. Lizzie just waved her hand as she headed out the door and started her tasks.

It was around 7pm when the girls had gathered everything they needed and left it in Alaric’s office. There was still no news on Josie or Alyssa. Bonnie had arrived a few hours earlier and donated her blood, she hung around for a while, trying to get a read on the school and the students that remained. She took a walk through the Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library and reminisced with Alaric about the past. It wasn’t long before Freya, Keelin, Davina and Vincent turned up.

Hope ran and hugged Freya as soon as she saw her, it was also the first time she allowed herself to cry all day. She couldn’t hold it in anymore. In that moment, she needed to be vulnerable because the rest of the time she had to be stoic, she needed to focus on saving Josie and possibly killing Alyssa. Freya allowed her niece to be vulnerable, they stood there for about ten minutes before Davina joined in. _“Awe it’s like a little Hope sandwich.”_ Keelin laughed, which in turn caused the other three girls to laugh as well. After another five minutes Davina and Freya stepped away from Hope.

 _“I’m sorry, I got tears and snot all over your shirt.”_ Hope laughed wetly.

 _“Oh trust me, that’s nothing compared to what Nik can do.”_ Freya laughed. _“Are you okay if you can show Keelin, Davina and Vincent to their rooms? I need to go and have a quick chat with Alaric and Bonnie.”_

 _“Yeah that’s fine.”_ Hope smiled. _“This way guys.”_ Hope walked around the school, giving the remaining three people a quick tour before she took them upstairs. She pointed out the key rooms that they would probably need to know while they are here. Hope took Vincent up to his room first. He was placed in a single room on the ‘boys’ floor. Then she took Davina and Keelin up to their room. _“We are all going to be sharing one room. I hope that’s okay? They don’t really have spare rooms to hand out to people. Don’t worry, each room has 2 double beds, so Aunt Davina you will be sharing with me and Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin will be sharing a bed.”_ Hope said as she opened the door to the room.

 _“That’s okay sweetie, I don’t mind. I know that wolves can get possessive if they have to share the ones they love with other people.”_ Davina jested.

 _“What can I say? We don’t like to share.”_ Keelin laughed. _“Have you experienced that yet?”_ She raised her eyebrow as she directed her question to Hope.

 _“I, erm… What do you mean?”_ Hope asked, trying to act dumb but she knew it didn’t work when Keelin started laughing.

 _“Awe the little wolf is in love.”_ Davina laughed.

 _“My girlfriend is missing and you’re making jokes?!”_ Hope snarled. _“Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that… I don’t know what came over me.”_ Hope deflated on the bed.

 _“It’s okay, it’s understandable that you’re upset. I don’t blame you. That’s why we are all here. We will find her. I promise.”_ Davina said as she moved to sit down next to Hope and wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

 _“How about after we have something to eat, me and you can go for a run?”_ Keelin said as she joined the other two girls, sitting on the opposite side of Davina. _“It will be good to clear your head.”_

 _“Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks Aunt Keelin.”_ Hope smiled weakly.

The three girls sat in silence for a while before Lizzie walked in. _“Oh god. Who died?”_ Lizzie was just as shocked by the words that fell out of her mouth as everyone else in the room. _“I didn’t mean to say that… I just came to tell you that my dad has dinner prepared for all of you. Oh don’t worry, he didn’t actually cook it.”_ Lizzie smiled before she quickly turned on her heels and exited the room.

 _“Lizzie Saltzman… always a way with words. Thank God that Josie is nothing like her.”_ Hope smiled as she shook her head, thinking about her girlfriend, then she felt sad again as all she wanted to do was hold her and kiss her and never let her go. Davina and Keelin saw all the emotions wash over their niece’s face.

 _“Come on. I’m starving, and I can’t wait to eat. Airplane food is horrible.”_ Keelin laughed as she stood up, holding her hand out for Hope. Hope took it and stood up, giving Keelin a quick hug before the three of them headed downstairs.

Alaric, Bonnie, Emma, Freya, Lizzie and Vincent were already at the table waiting for the rest of them to join. The three of them sat down and engaged in small talk. No one wanted to talk about all the heavy stuff that was weighing on them. Hope was kind of relieved by it, but she also hated the fact that no one was willing to accept that there was someone missing from the table. Hope, Lizzie and Alaric felt that weight a bit too much. Hope just grinned and bared it and got through the dinner without smashing the table up in anger. Keelin could sense her distress.

 _“I’m going to take Hope on a run. I think she’s not going to be able to last much longer at the table.”_ Keelin whispered to Freya.

 _“Okay babe, take care of her.”_ Freya smiled back.

 _“This was a lovely dinner Alaric, thank you for taking time out of your evening to do this for our family. But if you wouldn’t mind excusing me and Hope, we are going to go on a run. Is it okay to use the back acres?”_ Keelin asked.

 _“It’s fine. Erm, yeah all the students are still on lockdown so you shouldn’t be disturbed out there.”_ Alaric smiled.

 _“Thank you, Alaric.”_ Keelin stood up and squeezed Hope’s shoulder. _“Come on sweetie.”_

 _“Thanks Doctor S.”_ Hope smiled weakly.

Hope and Keelin walked to over to the Old Mill in silence. Keelin knew that Hope would talk when she’s ready, and right now she wasn’t. As soon as they reached their destination Hope stripped off and transitioned. When she was in her wolf form, she waited patiently for Keelin to do the same before they both took off running together.

They ran for about 2 hours before Keelin started to get tired, she gestured to Hope to head back but Hope wasn’t ready. So Keelin padded back to the Old Mill and waited for Hope to wear herself out, she kept an eye on Hope from a distance. Even though she was tired, she didn’t transition back until Hope had finished. She wanted to be on guard in case anything happened.

Hope ran for another 2 hours before she returned back to Keelin, but she didn’t transition right away. She was too tired, so she padded her way up into the wooden structure and curled up into a ball in the corner. Keelin followed her and stretched out in front of her, protectively. Hope eventually fell to sleep.

Hope woke up about an hour later, still in her wolf form, she stretched out her paws and padded them against Keelin’s fur. Hope growled slightly before she stood up and started to nip at Keelin’s neck. Keelin growled at Hope before she lifted her own paw and swatted Hope’s neck, knocking her head down to the floor. Hope whined slightly before she stood up and started jumping around the room. After about five minutes, Hope stopped jumping. She walked over to her pile of clothes and transitioned back to human then proceeded to get dressed.

Once Hope was dressed, Keelin transitioned back. _“Thanks for staying with me.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“It’s okay little one. It’s what I’m here for.”_ Keelin smiled. _“You know if you ever want to talk about anything. I’m here. You don’t have to keep it all bottled up.”_

 _“I know. It’s just hard… These past few months have been the hardest. It is probably on the same scale as loosing my parents. A part of me was relieved that they aren’t alive, so they didn’t forget me as well. And then me and Josie… I love her so much and I honestly don’t know what I would do if she died. It’s killing me… not knowing. A part of me knows she’s not hurt, but a part of me knows she’s not safe either and all of me just wants to find her and never let her go.”_ Hope deflated onto the worn-out sofa.

 _“I know what you are going through is hard. But we will find her. I promise you. I don’t ever want you to feel that way again. You shouldn’t have to feel like you are losing a part of yourself. We are all here to support you. And we will do everything in our power to bring Josie back to you. Okay?”_ Keelin spoke softly.

 _“Yeah I know, I just feel so worthless right now.”_ Hope sighed.

 _“I know sweetie.”_ Keelin pulled Hope into a hug. _“We should probably head back inside before Freya has an aneurism or something.”_ Keelin chuckled slightly. _“People say wolves are over-protective but the Mikaelson women are just as bad.”_

 _“Hey! That’s not very nice.”_ Hope laughed. _“Oh god. If that’s true, I feel sorry for Josie.”_

 _“I feel sorry for the poor bastard that has her.”_ Keelin shook her head. _“Actually, no I don’t. That bastard deserves everything that is coming after them.”_ Keelin stayed silent for a few minutes. _“Come on then sweetie, let’s go.”_

Hope nodded then stood up. Keelin followed her and they both headed back to the school. _“Thanks for listening to me.”_ Hope smiled as they entered the school. They tried to silently creep into their room, but Davina and Freya were sat up talking. They both smiled at Hope as she walked in.

 _“Glad to see you’re both safe. I was just about to send out a search party.”_ Freya laughed.

 _“Sorry Aunt Freya. I guess I was more pent up than I thought I was. I ran for about 4 hours. Aunt Keelin whimped out after 2 hours.”_ Hope laughed as she playfully jabbed Keelin in the side.

 _“She literally ran me ragged. I am shattered. She fell asleep for an hour then she wanted to play fight! I don’t know where she gets her energy from.”_ Keelin smiled as she shook her head. _“Get in your own bed. I want some alone time with my wife.”_ Keelin laughed as she swatted Davina’s arm.

 _“Just wait until Nik grows up. If you can’t keep up with me now what are you going to be like in 15 years?”_ Hope laughed as she got changed into a pair of shorts and a vest.

 _“Well Hopefully, he won’t have triggered his werewolf side… But if he has, then I’m sure you can teach him.”_ Freya laughed.

 _“Yeah, yeah, you’re just scared that you’ll be too old, and he will break you.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Enough of your cheek young lady.”_ Keelin laughed.

 _“Ooo, what you going to do about it?”_ Hope taunted from the middle of the room. Keelin looked at Davina and it was like they both had the same idea. Next thing Hope knows is that she is being tackled onto Freya and Keelin’s bed by Davina. Hope let out a surprised scream at the attack. _“Well that’s just not fair.”_ Hope laughed as the three other women started to pile on top of her, tickling her. After about five minutes Hope raised her hands up in defeat. _“Okay, okay. I get it. You win. Can we go to bed now please?”_ Hope huffed.

 _“Yeah, yeah. Go to bed little one. You need the rest.”_ Freya said as she kissed Hope’s head.

 _“Goodnight sweetie.”_ Keelin smiled.

 _“Goodnight you guys.”_ Hope smiled as she slid off the bed and padded over to her own. Davina not long behind her. It didn’t take long for Hope to fall asleep. Her dreams were filled with sweet memories of Josie. For the first time today, she felt at peace. Even though Josie wasn’t here, a part of her knew that Josie wasn’t hurt, so she found some comfort in that. Tomorrow was a new day with a new set of problems to tackle. Hopefully Hope would see her girlfriend again.

***

Josie was trying to scream and fight against her attacker, but she quickly wore herself out. Next thing she remembered is she woke up in a cold, dark room and her head was throbbing. Her eyes scanned the room, there was nothing but a mattress, a bottle of water and a door. Josie ran over to the door and started banging on it. The door flung open when her fists connected with it, causing her to fall on the floor.

 _“Oh good. You’re awake.”_ A voice called to her from the other side of the room. _“I thought I might have killed you. You’ve been out for over 15 hours.”_

 _“Who are you and what am I doing here?”_ Josie groaned as she pulled herself up, her eyes ran across the room trying to locate where the voice came from.

 _“You’ll find out in due time my dear. And for what you are doing here, well I needed you alone.”_ The voice called, as he stepped out from the shadows, wiping the corners of his mouth.

 _“And you couldn’t just talk to me like a normal person? You had to kidnap me, why?”_ Josie hesitated as the figure started walking towards her.

 _“Well you can thank your friend Alyssa for that.”_ He gestured towards a tied-up Alyssa in the corner of the room he just left. _“She said that there was no way to talk to you alone. Not with your hound tracking your every move.”_

 _“Alyssa isn’t my friend. And I have no idea what you are talking about. I don’t have a dog.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Oh but you do. Her name’s Hope, right? I’m sure that’s what Alyssa told me. She’s your little pet wolf. Follows you everywhere, tracks you. I bet you didn’t know that she could track you for miles. It was definitely fun to watch her run around the woods looking for you. She got so confused trying to track your scent. I mean it only took her an hour to give up on you.”_ He laughed.

 _“Don’t you ever go near Hope or I swear to god I will kill you.”_ Josie spat.

 _“Awe sweetie, I’d like to see you try… See I made sure this place was completely magic free before I brought you here. Because I know that you are a syphon, so you don’t have access to your own magic. And I placed an anti-syphon barrier spell around Alyssa so you can’t get to her. She should wake up soon, that’s if I didn’t drink too much.”_ He laughed.

 _“What do you want?”_ Josie asked.

 _“I just told you. I wanted to talk to you.”_ He replied as he sat down at the table in the middle of the room.

_“Well talk then.”_

_“Oh, you’re no fun. I debated between taking you or your sister. But Lizzie seems… like she would be to much of a problem and a pain in the arse. Plus, you remind me so much of your mother when she was your age. It feels like I’m actually talking to her.”_ He laughed.

 _“My mother? You know Caroline?”_ Josie frowned.

 _“No, not Caroline. I can’t believe our coven have been so selfish and they actually transplanted you both into her. They couldn’t just let me have this one thing.”_ He shook his head. _“No. I’m talking about my sister. Jo, Josette. Like you. Quite fitting, you look like her and you have her name. Oh it would be so sweet if I could kill you as well.”_ He said smugly.

 _“You’re Kai?”_ Josie voice broke slightly. _“How did you get out of the Prison World?”_

 _“Oh you have Alyssa to thank for that. You see, a few years ago she appeared in the Prison World out of nowhere. I thought it was the God’s playing a trick on me. I hadn’t fed for a while and I thought I was hallucinating; desiccation is not a fun thing to experience. Anyway, there she was, little Alyssa Chang at age 10. I fed off her and got some of my strength back. I could have snapped her head right then.”_ Kai hummed as he replayed the memory over in his head. _“But I didn’t. Because I knew that every couple of years or so another person would show up. And I try not to kill little kids anymore, but I do feed from them. Then they disappear again. It’s a strange occurrence, I could never figure out how it happened. Anyways, Alyssa turned up again, this time she was a little bit older, probably 12 or 13. She didn’t remember me, which in hindsight was a good thing. So, this time I didn’t drink from her. I actually spoke to her, which was like experiencing death all over again. Do you realise how insufferable kids can be? Oh I just wanted to kill her, but then she told me that she got sent here by Doctor Saltzman. I thought that was strange because I was pretty sure I killed my sister. So they never actually got married. Then she told me Doctor Saltzman was a man, and that he had twins! Twins!”_ Kai laughed dryly as he shook his head. _“And that the reason she was here was because she set one of you on fire? I’m guessing it was Lizzie, right? Oh she absolutely hates that girl. And from what she told me; I’m surprised that anyone likes her.”_ He laughed.

 _“Don’t talk about my sister that way!”_ Josie shouted.

 _“Oh god, calm down woman. Are you going to sit down? This is a long story that I am telling you, I don’t want you to get tired.”_ Kai replied.

 _“No, I’m fine with standing thanks.”_ Josie stared at him.

 _“It wasn’t a request.”_ Kai stated as he waved his hand and she was forced into a chair, chains wrapped around her wrists. _“That’s better. Coffee?”_ He asked, tilting his head.

 _“No.”_ Josie struggled against the chains.

 _“Suit yourself.”_ He laughed. _“As I was saying… Finding out Ric had twins who were 12 years old was just… so fucking annoying. So I made a deal with Alyssa. She would help release me from this Prison World and I wouldn’t kill her. I thought it would have happened sooner than this. But it turns out that when the kids leave the Prison World, they get their memories wiped. But now, thanks to you… She got her memories back and then she freed me from my own personal hell. So I thanked her by turning her. I don’t think she will be a heretic though. She’s not a syphon like us.”_

 _“Why did you turn her?”_ Josie asked.

 _“I don’t know. I got bored waiting for you to wake up! I needed something to occupy my time. I mean she is a tasty little thing.”_ Kai laughed.

_“So why exactly am I here?”_

_“You are here, so I can teach your dear old dad a lesson. Ric knew not to get on the wrong side of me. Did you know he tried to kill me? Yeah, after I killed my sister, he hunted me down and tried to kill me, but he couldn’t go through with it. He’s a pathetic, weak man. Although, I am thankful for all the little kiddies he’s sent my way over the years. I should send him a thankyou note! Oh that would just be sweet. Oh and I can write it in your blood. I’m sure that will get your little pet all riled up. Oh I’ll send Alyssa with the note. This is brilliant! Thank you for your help Josette.”_ Kai laughed as he stood up from his seat and left the building.

Josie struggled against the chains that kept her trapped on the chair, trying to break free. After about five minutes Josie finally accepted defeat. She wasn’t going to be able to break these chains. Josie groaned as she dropped her head to the table. Josie was lost in her thoughts when she heard a loud banging coming from the other side of the room. As she bolted upright to investigate, Alyssa was inches from her face.

Alyssa dipped her head into Josie’s neck and bit down and started drinking Josie’s blood, after a few seconds she was thrown across the room, crashing into the brick wall before landing in a heap on the floor. Josie fought against the chains as she tried to cover her neck when Kai walked in, laughing. Josie spun her head in his direction. _“I thought you said that there was a barrier spell around her!”_ She spat.

 _“Oh there is. But it’s only one way. You see I didn’t want you syphoning her. Alyssa told me all about the little ‘black magic’ spells you’ve done over the years with your pet. I don’t want you getting any ideas.”_ Kai laughed.

_“Would you please stop calling Hope my ‘pet’… She is her own person and I don’t own her!”_

_“You really don’t know anything about werewolves, do you?”_ Kai mused.

_“What do you mean?”_

_“Whether you want it or not… your little pet is bonded to you.”_

_“Fuck you Kai! You know nothing about me.”_

_“Oh but I do. Alyssa told me everything I needed to know. And from what she told me about your pet’s little display of sexual aggression towards you yesterday, in the bathroom… Well that’s enough about you… It’s time.”_ Kai laughed.

Kai moved from his spot by the door and walked over to Josie. He dropped a card, a quill and ink pot on the table. He pulled out a pen knife and unchained Josie’s left arm. He grabbed it and pulled it across the table then placed a deep three-inch cut on her wrist. He turned Josie’s wrist and let the blood drip into the empty ink pot. After enough blood had been spilled Kai chained Josie’s wrist back up.

 _“Do you like the card? I thought it would be very fitting. It says, ‘Sorry for your loss.’ Do you think he will like it?”_ Kai laughed.

 _“You’re an arsehole Kai.”_ Josie retorted.

_“Well that’s not very nice Josette. I was only trying to do something nice for your dad.”_

_“He will kill you. You do realise that, right?”_

_“I’d like to see him try. Anyway, lets write this card, shall we?”_ Kai laughed. _“Dearest Alaric. I’m so glad that I killed Jo on your wedding day. I can’t wait to kill your daughter, Josette, as well. Best Wishes, your almost brother in-law, Kai. P.S. Your daughter is the spitting image of her. It will be fun to kill my sister all over again.”_ Kai spoke as he wrote the card out, using Josie’s blood.

 _“You are one sick bastard Kai.”_ Josie spat.

 _“Oh boo-hoo. Josette, you need to toughen up. You will never win the merge with that attitude. Well, that’s if you actually survive this. Which I don’t think you will.”_ Kai laughed.

Kai walked over to Alyssa, who was hunched over in the corner. _“Get up now dear, you have an errand to run for me.”_ Alyssa groaned slightly as she rubbed her head. _“I SAID GET UP!”_ Kai’s hand grabbed a fistful of Alyssa’s hair and pulled her up to standing, threw her into the centre of the room. _“Now Alyssa, I need you to deliver this to Alaric Saltzman. No one else but Alaric, do you understand?”_ Kai said as he gave Alyssa the card.

 _“You do realise that they will kill me, don’t you?”_ Alyssa frowned.

 _“Oh, they won’t kill you… not straight away. They’ll want to know what you did to Josette and how you got me out of the prison world. But here’s what you are going to do… When they start asking you those questions, you WILL kill yourself.”_ Kai gave Alyssa a small wooden looking stake along with the card. _“Now run along little girl, before the sun comes out.”_

Alyssa grunted as she shoved the stake into her back pocket and placed the card in her hand as she vamp-sped out of the warehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one chapter today folks! Sorry to leave you on another cliffhanger... I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! I tried not to make it too heavy! Let me know what you all think :D


	17. I Need to Save Josie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's been a minute since I last updated. I finally went back to work and it's been... stressful. And I've not really had much time to write.   
> But either way I hope you enjoy the chapter! I'm going to do one or two more before it comes to an end. I've actually had a Hizzie fic stuck in my head for the past week that I need to get out hahaha.

Chapter 17- I Need to Save Josie.

It was around 6am when Lizzie bolted upright in bed, screaming in pain, her hand immediately went to her neck, trying to stop the phantom pains she was experiencing. She quickly jumped off her bed and looked in the mirror, checking to make sure her neck wasn’t actually bleeding. When she was satisfied that she wasn’t hurt she ran down to Hope’s room. Lizzie barged into the room and saw Hope cuddled up to Davina. Keelin sat up and growled at the intrusion, causing Freya and Davina to wake up as well. The two powerful witches quickly waved their hands and sent Lizzie flying into the wall, pinning her in place.

 _“What do you want Lizzie?”_ Hope groaned as she shot up in bed because of the rude awakening.

 _“Something’s just happened to Josie. She’s been bitten.”_ Lizzie rushed to explain. _“I woke up with excruciating pain in my neck, but when I looked in the mirror, I couldn’t see anything. Something is wrong. She’s hurt and in pain, I came here to tell you… Are you going to let me down?”_ Lizzie struggled against the invisible restraints.

 _“What did you expect would happen when you barged into the bedroom where three of the world’s most powerful witches are sleeping?”_ Hope shook her head. _“Let her down.”_ She said to her aunts as she stretched out of bed and walked over to Lizzie, holding out a hand for the blonde to take.

Lizzie accepted it and stood up, brushing the dust off from her body. Hope, in her sleep-driven state, started to run her hands across Lizzie’s neck, looking for any mark that might be left from the Twin’s ability to feel her sister’s pain. _“Unhand me, you heathen.”_ Lizzie frowned as she tried to bat Hope’s hands away.

 _“Would you stop moving… I’m trying to see if I can see anything.”_ Hope frowned. _“There’s a really faint outline of bite marks on the left side of your neck… it’s not visible to the human eye though. Aunt Keelin, would you take a look?”_ Hope asked her aunt. Keelin complied, stood up and walked over to the blonde. _“You see, right here…”_ Hope traced her fingers over the faint lines to show Keelin, sending slight shivers down Lizzie’s spine as an inaudible moan escaped from her lips, forcing her to stare at the wall behind the shorter girl.

 _“I’m sorry… I can’t see anything Hope.”_ Keelin furrowed her brow as she examined Lizzie’s skin.

 _“That’s… strange. It’s definitely there…”_ Hope shrugged as she let her hand drop from Lizzie’s neck.

 _“What do you think is causing it?”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“It might be because of the… connection… Hope has to your sister and to you.”_ Freya said from the comfort of her bed.

 _“I don’t have a… connection with Hope.”_ Lizzie scoffed.

 _“No, you might not… But Josie has a connection with you, through the Twin thing and Hope has a… strong connection with Josie… So that might mean Hope can see or sense things that are happening to Josie, just like you can.”_ Davina added.

 _“That is… unfortunate.”_ Lizzie pouted. _“ARGH! FUCK!”_ She screamed as she grabbed her left wrist. Hope quickly grabbed the blonde’s wrist and saw a deep red three-inch mark appear across it but then it vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

 _“What the fuck is happening to Josie?!”_ Hope spat. _“We need to do that uncloaking spell now.”_ Hope spun round and addressed the other 3 women in the room. They were all in agreement, Freya and Davina moved from their bed and started to get dressed. Hope turned back to Lizzie and said, _“You go and get dressed then get Bonnie and we’ll meet you in Alaric’s office.”_

 _“Yes boss.”_ Lizzie rolled her eyes at Hope before she exited the room.

Hope and the other three women got dressed in silence. They all knew that it was going to be a tough day today. Hope was the first to finish getting ready and she practically ran out of the room then headed downstairs to make a coffee before she headed to Alaric’s office. She didn’t get much sleep last night, so she needed the caffeine energy.

It wasn’t long before Bonnie, Davina, Freya, Keelin and Lizzie joined Hope, who was currently pacing up and down the office, muttering to herself.

 _“I haven’t seen her like this since her mom died.”_ Keelin whispered to Freya as they all hovered near the door. Hope snapped her head up and growled at Keelin. Bonnie and Lizzie stepped back slightly but the other three approached Hope, essentially stopping Hope in her tracks.

 _“Come here darlin’, we will sort this out, okay?”_ Freya said as she pulled Hope into a hug. Hope tensed up at the feeling. After a few seconds Freya dropped her arms from around Hope and moved over to the sofa, taking a seat next to Davina and Keelin. _“Right, so, Bonnie, Davina and I spoke last night, and we came up with a solution for uncloaking Josie, but it requires both you and Lizzie to work together.”_ Freya said.

 _“What needs to happen is Hope and Lizzie need to be sat in the centre of the room with a barrier around them, you both need to hold hands and focus on Josie and Josie alone. Any other thoughts will stop the spell completely and it will take about five hours before we can try again.”_ Bonnie replied.

 _“Then Freya, Bonnie and I will chant the spell around you both. Hopefully you should be able to see where she is. It might come in flashes to start off with, but the more you concentrate, the clearer the image will become. Once you have a crystal-clear picture that’s when you’ll be able to do a locator spell.”_ Davina added.

 _“That seems simple enough.”_ Hope replied.

 _“I think I can manage that.”_ Lizzie stated.

 _“Okay then ladies, sit down and we will get started.”_ Freya smiled.

Hope and Lizzie moved into the centre of the room and sat down, facing each other. Their hands interlaced and resting on their knees. _“Close your eyes and clear your mind, think only of Josie. Think of the memory that brings you the most joy and happiness. It helps.”_ Bonnie instructed. The teens did as they were told as Davina placed a circle of salt around them.

As they were just about to start their mission, the boundary spell started ringing. _“Someone has entered the school grounds.”_ Freya stated and she hurriedly stood up, making her way out of the office and headed to the main entrance, the other five women followed her.

Hope growled as the smell of Josie’s blood assaulted her nose. Within seconds Alyssa Chang appeared in front of them. Hope quickly grabbed her and threw her across the room. _“What the fuck have you done to Josie?!”_ Hope knelt by the side of Alyssa and punched her in the face.

 _“I’m not saying shit to you until I see Alaric.”_ Alyssa spat blood on the floor.

 _“I’m here… Now what the fuck have you done to my daughter?”_ Alaric walked over to Alyssa and picked her up by the throat.

 _“Read… this…”_ Alyssa struggled as she gave Alaric the card. Alaric took the card and threw Alyssa across the room, causing her to crash into some chairs and a table. Alaric read the card out loud. _“Dearest Alaric. I’m so glad that I killed Jo on your wedding day. I can’t wait to kill your daughter, Josette, as well. Best Wishes, your almost brother in-law, Kai. P.S. Your daughter is the spitting image of her. It will be fun to kill my sister all over again.” I am going to kill that fucker if it’s the last thing I do!”_ Alaric spat.

 _“It’s written in Josie’s blood. That’s why I can smell it.”_ Hope realised. _“That and the fact that I could smell it on Alyssa’s breath.”_

Hope charged over to Alyssa, who quickly vamp-sped to the other side of the room. Alyssa pulled out the stake from her pocket, turned to the group and said, _“You will never find Josie. Hopefully she will be dead soon. I hope Kai kills you all.”_ Before driving the stake through her heart, except it didn’t work. The stake that Kai had given her was plastic. _“That bastard.”_ Alyssa huffed as she slid to the floor.

 _“Quick, get her down to the transition cellars!”_ Alaric called. Hope and Keelin ran over to her, Keelin snapped her neck then carried her down to the basement. Everyone else followed them.

 _“She’s a fucking vampire?!”_ Lizzie asked. _“What should we do with her?”_

 _“I say we torture her until she talks.”_ Hope eagerly volunteered. _“I’ll do it!”_

 _“No, Hope torturing her isn’t going to get us anywhere. Why don’t the six of you go and get started on that uncloaking spell? We’re going to need it now more than ever.”_ Alaric replied. _“Get MG and Kaleb to come down here. I think we will need their help.”_

 _“Sure Dad, I’ll get them to come down.”_ Lizzie stated before she quickly headed back upstairs.

The other five women grumbled but they all made their way upstairs, they passed MG and Kaleb in the corridor as they made their way to Alaric’s office. Hope was pissed that Alaric wouldn’t let her stay, but she knew it was for the best, because in all fairness she would more than likely kill Alyssa for taking Josie.

The women piled into Alaric’s office and Hope took her rightful spot on the floor in the middle of the salt circle. Only a few minutes passed by before Lizzie joined them. Lizzie huffed as she sat down to face Hope. _“I want that bitch dead for hurting Josie.”_ Lizzie said.

 _“You’re not the only one. I want to kill her myself.”_ Hope replied as she took Lizzie’s hands in her own.

 _“Girls, you need to focus now. Put Alyssa out of your mind and focus on Josie. We will find her, one way or the other.”_ Bonnie stated.

Hope and Lizzie closed their eyes and focused on Josie. Hope focused on the memory of that first Sunday they spent together after she came out of the Malivore pit, the day that she teased Josie’s leg under the table at the Grill and the first time they kissed in the bathroom. A smile crept across her lips as she focused on the sensation she felt when Josie’s lips met hers for the first time.

Almost instinctively Lizzie dropped her hand from Hope’s and slapped her thigh. _“Is that really the memory you are focusing on? I didn’t need that image in my head as well. I’ve seen enough of… that over the past three days.”_ Lizzie frowned.

Hope’s eyes bolted open. _“Well that will teach you for walking in on us… TWICE!” Hope retorted. “You didn’t say anything about Lizzie being able to see my memories!”_ She hissed at Bonnie and Freya.

 _“That shouldn’t have happened. You must be more in tune with Josie than I realised. It’s a good thing though. Can you still see the marks on Lizzie?”_ Freya asked.

 _“Yeah I can. Why?”_ Hope replied.

 _“Just checking. Right, now both of you. Focus on your chosen memories and Lizzie, don’t get distracted this time.”_ Freya said as she shook her head.

 _“Ugh fine. But if I’m sick, it’s your fault.”_ Lizzie groaned.

 _“Lizzie you are such a drama queen.”_ Hope retorted.

 _“Girls… behave, please? Remember why we are doing this.”_ Bonnie frowned.

 _“Sorry.”_ The two younger girls said in unison. Hope and Lizzie re-joined their hands and closed their eyes. Both focusing on their own memories, until they blended into one. Bonnie, Davina and Freya sat around the younger girls; hands joined as they chanted.

They all sat in their positions for about thirty minutes before Hope finally spoke. _“I’m starting to get flashes. They’re very faint. Just outlines.”_

A few more minutes passed. _“I can see… an old building. It looks abandoned and worn down. There’s nothing around it. Just… fields?”_ Lizzie stated.

 _“I can see Josie; she’s sat at a table… It looks like she has chains on her wrists and she’s talking to someone.”_ Hope informed.

_“There’s a man sat opposite Josie playing with a penknife, like he’s stabbing it… between his fingers.”_

_“ARGH FUCK!”_ The three teenage girls screamed in unison, as the penknife was stabbed through the back of Josie’s right palm. _“Josie just got stabbed.”_ Hope gritted through her teeth, but didn’t break her concentration, neither did Lizzie.

 _“Josie’s speaking to him… She is saying, ‘my girlfriend is going to kill you for that, she really likes…’ Okay I’m not going to finish that sentence.”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“I want to try something… Josie? Can you hear me?”_ Hope asked. _“Don’t speak… Just tap your finger or something.”_

_“She’s tapping her finger. It’s working, she can hear you.”_

_“Okay, tap once for yes and twice for no, do you understand?”_

_“She tapped once.”_ Lizzie stated.

_“Do you have access to any magic?”_

_“She said no.”_

_“Do you know where you are?”_

_“She said yes.”_

_“Okay… Well I need you to picture it, like a mental map. Just focus on it. We can’t find you; he’s got you under a cloaking spell. Think really hard for me baby.”_

_“It’s a building, standing alone, in the middle of a field hidden by trees. It’s just off the highway leading out of Mystic Falls.”_

_“Thank you, baby. We should have enough now to find you. Stay strong baby. I love you so much.”_ Hope said with tears in her eyes.

As soon as Hope and Lizzie broke their connection with Josie, they both passed out. It took them a few minutes to be roused.

 _“We know where she is. We need a map!”_ Hope stated as she stood up, unsteady on her feet. Keelin quickly rushed to Hope’s side to steady her.

 _“You need to sit down Hope.”_ Keelin whispered.

 _“No. I need to find Josie.”_ Hope growled.

***

After Kai sent Alyssa on her way, he turned his attention back to Josie. He walked back over to his seat and sat down without saying a word. He just stared at her for about twenty minutes. It made Josie uncomfortable. Josie shifted in her seat but knew it was a worthless cause. Eventually she gave up and decided to ask Kai some questions.

 _“You haven’t told me how you actually escaped from the Prison World. You just said that it was Black Magic that helped you escape. I want to know exactly how you escaped.”_ Josie said.

 _“Ah. Well that is never going to happen. It’s a secret.”_ Kai laughed. _“You know what… I thought you would have been more fun, but I guess not. You are seriously such a miserable piece of shit.”_

_“Well can you tell me about the merge? And how it affects our coven?”_

_“How about we make this interesting. You tell me what you know so far and if you get something wrong then I get to ask you something completely unrelated?”_ Kai laughed.

_“Fine… So from what I found out about the merge is that it happens to twins in our coven when they turn 22. For some reason, they have to merge and then they become the leader of the coven. But only one person survives, the stronger one.”_

_“Good girl Josie. It looks like you did your research.”_

_“What I don’t understand is why we have to do it. It seems cruel and archaic. Like why the age 22? 22 is when your whole life is just really beginning. I’d hate to have my whole life taken away from me. I need to find a way to stop it. I thought you would be able to help me.”_

_“There is no way to stop it. Well nothing that I found anyway. I was tossed aside by my coven for being a syphon. They thought I was an abomination. What they failed to see was that I was the best thing that ever happened to them. They are all just arseholes. Never trust anything our coven says.”_

_“Our coven isn’t around anymore. Me and Lizzie are the last one’s left.”_

_“Ah! That’s right. I killed them all.”_ Kai laughed.

_“Why did you kill them?”_

_“Because they called me a sociopath. I was quite offended, and they wouldn’t listen to me. And I hated the fact that your mother was such a pain in the ass and refused to merge with me. So I did it with Lucas, because Liv refused to do it, she didn’t want to die or become leader of the coven, but that failed. It made me sick for such a long time. How do you like being a syphon?”_

_“I enjoy it. It’s annoying that I don’t have my own power sometimes, like when I’m trying to do a spell and my power diminishes. I’ve learned how to moderate it. But I wish I had some of my own.”_

_“How do you feel when you syphon someone or something?”_

_“Erm. It’s kind of a headrush…”_ Josie trailed off, thinking about the times she syphoned from people she cared about, like Penelope and Hope and how it actually turned her on when she syphoned from them.

Kai smirked like he just read her mind. _“Do you ever get like… super horny?”_ He laughed.

 _“Oh that is fucked up. Why would you ask your niece something like that?”_ Josie shook her head.

_“Oh come on. Tell me that you don’t feel that way when you syphon. Because I know it was one of the biggest things that happened to me when I did it. Plus it made sex even better, with both men and women.”_

_“I don’t really want to hear about your sex life.”_

_“Ha! No one wants to hear about yours either hun.”_

_“What exactly do you want with me?”_

_“God you are insufferable. Do you ever stop talking?!”_ Kai got pissed off and drove his penknife into the back of Josie’s right hand. Josie screamed out in pain.

 _“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!”_ Josie cried.

 _“You were pissing me off. Your voice is so annoying.”_ Kai laughed.

 _“My girlfriend is going to kill you for that, she really likes that hand and what I can do with it.”_ Josie spat.

“ _I’m sure you will heal just fine. Unless I kill you before then.”_

 _“You know what? Fuck you Kai. I’m not going to talk to you anymore.”_ Josie replied then sat there in silence.

Kai tried speaking to her, but she actively ignored him. Suddenly, she could hear Hope’s voice in her head. She wasn’t sure if she was delirious from the pain or if she could actually hear Hope. She tried her best to follow what Hope was saying. It felt strange to hear her girlfriend, but she needed the comfort.

She listened to every word Hope said and did what she instructed. When she heard that Hope was going to get her, she couldn’t help but smile. Her smile turned into a grin and the grin turned into a laugh and before long she was laughing uncontrollably.

_“What’s so funny little niece?”_

_“Nothing. I just had a thought.”_ Josie shrugged.

Kai didn’t like that reply, so he stabbed her in the back of her left hand. But this time she didn’t scream, she just kept on laughing. Like nothing could affect her, like she doesn’t feel pain anymore.

Kai stormed off out of the building and left Josie, alone, bleeding on the chair she was tied to.


	18. We've Found Josie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the wait! I've been back at work and it's been pretty full on. But today I had a stroke of genius and managed to write two whole chapters for you lovely people! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy them hahaha.

Chapter 18- We’ve found Josie.

Alaric was stood outside the cellar that housed Alyssa, talking with MG and Kaleb when Lizzie came bounding down the stairs.

 _“DAD! WE KNOW WHERE JOSIE IS!”_ Lizzie huffed as she came to a halt after running through the school to reach her dad.

 _“Geez, girl. There is no need to scream like that. I think I might be deaf now.”_ Kaleb groaned as he covered his ears.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at him then quickly turned back to Alaric. _“Dad! We need to hurry!”_

 _“Okay Lizzie. Let’s go. Kaleb, MG, keep an eye on Alyssa. Don’t let anyone come down here. And don’t feed her. We need to dry her out for the time being.”_ Alaric stated before he took off up the stairs with Lizzie in tow.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive at Alaric’s office. They walked through the door and were greeted by the remaining five women. Hope was leaning against Alaric’s desk talking with Bonnie and Freya. _“Alaric. We’ve come up with a plan. Bonnie, Davina and Freya are going to stay here while You, Keelin, Lizzie and I are going to go get Josie back.”_ Hope pushed herself up from the desk and tried to regain her balance. She was still experiencing some of the side effects from the spell.

 _“Okay. Great. When do we leave?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“In ten minutes. So get what you need to from the Armoury and we will meet you out by the car. Keelin is going to drive us.”_ Hope replied before she walked out of the office.

Hope quickly rushed up to Josie’s and Lizzie’s bedroom. She made her way over to Josie’s dresser and pulled out a jumper. She pulled a blanket off the bed then turned to head back downstairs. Hope paused momentarily and picked up a backpack off the ground and shoved the items she had accumulated into it then continued her journey.

She arrived at the car to find Alaric, Keelin and Lizzie already sat in their seats, waiting for her. Alaric had a duffle bag resting at his feet. _“Sorry.”_ Hope muttered as she climbed into the backseat of the car, slinging the bag into the empty seat next to her.

The drive out to the middle of nowhere was long and slow. Hope was getting more restless with every passing second. She couldn’t stop her leg from bouncing, much to Lizzie’s annoyance. _“Jesus, Hope! Please stop with the incessant leg bouncing, it is driving me crazy.”_ Lizzie seethed.

 _“Fuck you Lizzie! I actually care about Josie’s life you know? I know she’s in pain. I can feel it. She needs me.”_ Hope retorted.

_“And you think that I don’t care? I can feel her pain too!”_

_“Girls, please stop! How many times do I have to tell you!”_ Alaric spat. _“Sorry. Look we are all stressed, and we all want Josie back. But can you please behave, for Josie’s sake.”_

 _“Sorry Dad.”_ Lizzie sighed.

 _“Sorry Doctor. S.”_ Hope huffed as she turned her head out the car window.

Keelin pulled the car onto a dirt road about a mile away from the building. They all climbed out and started the trek. When they got halfway, Hope stopped walking. _“I’m going to wolf out, I want to scout the area to make sure it is safe before you all arrive. I don’t want any surprises. Keelin, can you keep an eye on these two? I don’t want either of them to do anything stupid.”_

 _“Sure Hope, no problem.”_ Keelin smiled. She gestured Hope towards the woods for cover so she could transition in somewhat privacy. Alaric and Lizzie ventured forward slowly.

 _“Keelin please protect them. I know Lizzie has power and she might have to syphon from you, but Alaric is human. He’s been through a lot and if something goes wrong, he will blame himself. Please keep him safe.”_ Hope spoke softly as she stripped her clothes off her body.

 _“I’d do what I can. You know that. Be safe out there.”_ Keelin smiled as she watched her niece transition. Hope, in her wolf form, approached Keelin and stretched out her front paws so it looked like she was bowing. Keelin ran her hand across Hope’s snout and neck. _“Go and save your girl Hope. You deserve to be happy.”_

Hope howled in response then took off running through the woods. It didn’t take Hope long to pick up Josie’s scent, it drove her forwards and she reached the building in no time. Hope stopped just short of the treeline and surveyed the area before she tentatively approached. She sprinted towards the building and stopped just shy of the door. She quickly ran around the building to make sure it was safe before she jumped through the door.

There was no one in the building other than Josie. Josie was wavering in and out of consciousness, from the pain and the loss of blood. Hope rushed over to her, placed her paws on Josie’s arm and started licking her face. Josie was groggy and only briefly opened her eyes before she closed them again.

Hope transitioned back to human, she removed the knife from Josie’s hand and placed a cut across her own wrist. _“Baby. Josie. Wake up, my love. You need to drink my blood. It will heal you.”_ Hope brought her left wrist up to Josie’s lips.

Josie gagged slightly as the taste of blood assaulted her lips, but after a few seconds she welcomed it. Josie drank until her pain had stopped and her wounds had healed. When she opened her eyes she was greeted by the sight of Hope’s naked body. _“Wow. If I knew getting kidnapped meant I could see you naked I would had done it a long time ago.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“Ha. Ha. Very funny. If you wanted to see me naked all you had to do was ask.”_ Hope laughed back. _“Now, hold still. I need to remove these chains from you.”_ Hope pulled on the chains for a few minutes before they broke.

Josie stood up immediately and pulled Hope into a hug. _“Thank you Hope.”_ Josie mumbled against Hope’s neck.

 _“Baby, you don’t have to thank me. I’d do this every day of my life for you. I will never give up on you and I will never leave you. But you gave me a heart attack, so please don’t get kidnapped again.”_ Hope replied, her hands resting on the sides of Josie’s neck, her thumbs gently flowing along the brunette’s jawline. _“I love you Josette Lucas Saltzman.”_

Josie lifted her head and looked into Hope’s ocean blue eyes. _“I love you too Hope Andrea Mikaelson.”_ Josie pressed her lips softly against Hope’s. This kiss was different from all their others. It was patient, caring and so full of love. There was no urgency, no rush, no hunger. It was peaceful and tender, and they took their time.

And just like always, they were interrupted when Lizzie walked in. _“Oh God! Hope please put some goddamn clothes on!”_ Lizzie huffed.

 _“I would do, but aunt Keelin has my bag.”_ Hope groaned as she turned around, placing Josie in-between them.

 _“KEELIN! HOPE NEEDS HER BAG. SHE’S NAKED!”_ Lizzie shouted over her shoulder. A few seconds later Josie’s backpack came flying through the door and landed just before Josie’s feet. Josie bent down and picked it up, purposely shifting her hips back into Hope’s. Almost instinctively Hope’s hands found their way onto Josie’s waist and she tugged back slightly, causing both girls to moan in the process.

 _“Ugh. FOR GOD SAKE. CAN YOU NOT DO THAT?!”_ Lizzie spat.

 _“Well you could stop being such a pervert and turn around.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Or you could just stop constantly trying to fuck my sister.”_ Lizzie muttered quietly enough so only Hope could hear. She made a dramatic show of turning around to face away from the other two girls.

 _“Never going to happen.”_ Hope smirked.

 _“What’s never going to happen?”_ Josie replied as she straightened up then turned to face Hope, giving her the bag.

 _“Nothing!”_ Lizzie replied.

 _“Oh you know. It’s just Lizzie being Lizzie and she wants me to stop trying to fuck you all the time.”_ Hope grinned as she leaned in to kiss Josie.

Josie smiled into the kiss. _“Oh yeah, I totally agree with you. That’s never going to happen. One of these days I will succeed.”_ Josie replied as she dropped her hand from Hope’s waist to her ass, giving it a full-handed squeeze.

Hope moaned at the sensation and the words that escaped her girlfriend’s lips. _“Is that a promise or a threat?”_

 _“Can it be both?”_ Josie laughed. _“But for now, you need to get dressed before Lizzie has an aneurysm or something.”_

 _“Well I kind of don’t want to now you’ve just said that.”_ Hope beamed as she took an impossible step closer to Josie and kissed her again. Hope’s eyes shot open and she bit down on Josie’s lip, moaning, when she felt her girlfriend’s hand slap across her ass cheek. _“Fuck. Do that again.”_ Hope moaned.

 _“Can you two please stop with this weird kinky foreplay? You’re actually starting to make me feel sick.”_ Lizzie groaned.

 _“I actually forgot she was here.”_ Hope groaned. She quickly kissed Josie again before she took a step back and started to take her clothes out of the bag. She took her time getting dressed. She put on a little show for Josie. She slowly pulled her red laced thong up her legs, followed by her favourite jeans. She pulled on her matching bra and secured it. Hope pulled her shirt out of the bag and slowly pulled it over her head, leaving it bunched up just above her abs before she winked at Josie and pulled it down.

Josie’s eyes followed Hope’s every move. _“Reminds me of when we first met, after I lost my memories.”_

 _“Remember what you did that night?”_ Hope smiled and raised her eyebrow.

 _“Of course, how could I forget that?”_ Josie grinned.

Hope stepped closer to Josie and brought her lips up to the brunette’s right ear. _“I’m going to make you scream my name again tonight.”_ She whispered.

Josie physically whimpered, her legs gave way slightly and she reached out to Hope’s waist and steadied herself. Hope couldn’t help but laugh at the display. _“We should really be heading back now. It’s going to take us a while to get back home.”_ Hope smiled as she kissed Josie, once.

The two girls’ hands joined as they turned and started walking towards the door. Lizzie huffed and walked out when she heard the girls’ approach her. Outside the building, Alaric and Keelin were stood waiting patiently. Alaric ran up and hugged Josie, practically squishing her. _“Are you okay?”_ He asked, checking her over.

 _“Yes Dad. I’m fine. Hope let me drink from her. I’m all healed up and not in any pain.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Oh okay. That’s good then. We should probably head back to the school now.”_ Alaric stated.

***

Back at the school, all things seemed quiet for the time being. It had been about an hour since Alaric left with the three women and all the students were on lockdown in their rooms. Freya, Bonnie and Emma were doing their checks on the students when the boundary alarm went off. The three of them rushed downstairs and joined Davina and Dorian.

A few seconds later Kai was at the door. _“Is someone going to let me in?”_ Kai laughed as he set one foot over the threshold. _“Oh, it looks like I don’t need an invitation. Bonnie, you look lovely as always.”_ Kai vamp-sped over to Bonnie but was quickly bounced back by a barrier spell.

 _“Fuck you Kai.”_ Bonnie retorted.

 _“Have you missed me?”_ Kai smiled as he stood up.

_“Like a hole in the head. What do you want?”_

_“I wanted to see my best friend obviously. We had so much fun together. I thought we could play another game.”_

_“What makes you think that I won’t kill you right here, right now?”_

_“Oh because I have Stephanie Salvatore stashed away somewhere, bleeding out. I think by my estimates she has about five hours left to live.”_

_“Somehow I don’t believe you.”_

_“Just give it a minute.”_ Kai laughed. And sure enough, Bonnie’s phone rang. It was Elena calling. Elena was panicking, she asked Bonnie if she had seen Stephanie and that there was a note in her bedroom written in blood, telling her to phone Bonnie. Bonnie told Elena that everything would be fine, and she quickly rushed to end the call. 

_“What the fuck do you want Kai?”_ Bonnie spat.

_“Why is everyone being so boring today? You know, I escaped from a prison world. I thought you guys would be more fun.”_

_“Kai, you are really testing my patience right now.”_

_“Fine, fine. I want us to dance. I want you to do something for me. I need the twins here though. I need you to kill one of them.”_

_“I am not going to kill one of the twins!”_

_“Oh but you have to Bonnie. It’s to save Stephanie’s life. Don’t you care about her at all?”_

_“Right at this very second, I don’t. You are not going to hurt another person, even if I die in the process, I will come back and haunt you. I will make your life hell. Worse than any prison world could ever do.”_

_“Oh honey. You forgot I came from the literal hell and I still survived. I think it’s cute that you think you could actually keep me down.”_ Kai winked.

Davina and Freya both casted a spell that sent Kai flying into a wall and was pinned in place. Kai started laughing as he started to syphon the magic away. Once he had syphoned the magic away, he dropped to the floor but was quickly knocked out, by a spell casted by Bonnie.

 _“We need to put him somewhere where he is away from magic and the students. Where’s the best place for that?”_ Bonnie asked.

 _“The transition cellars. But I think we have Alyssa Chang down there at the minute.”_ Dorian replied.

 _“What about the tunnels? There’s no magic down there and we can minimise the student’s access.”_ Emma replied.

 _“Okay, let’s go.”_ Bonnie stated.

Bonnie, Davina and Freya picked up Kai’s body and dragged him down to the tunnels. Dorian followed shortly after with chains he had collected from the Armoury. They tied Kai up and retreated to a safe distance. Davina and Freya placed a barrier spell around him and sat on the stairs watching him as the rest of them went back upstairs to check on the students.

Another 30 minutes had passed by before Alaric, Hope, Josie, Keelin and Lizzie arrived back at the school. They all came down to the tunnels and met up with Davina and Freya.

 _“What are we going to do with him?”_ Josie asked.

 _“What do you want to do with him baby?”_ Hope asked.

 _“I kinda want to set him on fire. Can I do that?”_ Josie grinned.

 _“You can do whatever you want.”_ Hope smiled as she took Josie’s hand in her own.

 _“You can’t kill him just yet. Bonnie needs to find Stephanie first.”_ Freya chimed in. _“We can’t seem to find her. We’ve tried doing a locator spell but had no luck.”_

 _“Surely if we kill him then any spell that he has cast will become obsolete?”_ Hope replied.

 _“I don’t know. Let Bonnie do what she needs to do first, okay?”_ Freya said.

 _“Okay, fine.”_ Hope returned before she turned back to Josie. _“You can hurt him, but you can’t kill him. So what do you want to do?”_

Josie grabbed hold of Hope’s hand and syphoned some magic from her. _“INCENDIA.”_ Josie stated with force, a smile formed on her lips and she bounced up and down slightly like a happy puppy. Josie burned half of Kai’s body with the spell. Not enough to do any real damage though. She knows her limits and she would never intentionally kill someone.

 _“You’re so hot when you set things on fire.”_ Hope whispered into Josie’s ear.

 _“Are you trying to turn me on?”_ Josie whispered back.

 _“I have to try now?!”_ Hope feigned being shocked.

 _“Never.”_ Josie whispered as she placed a simple kiss just below Hope’s ear. Hope whimpered slightly and her knees felt weak at the touch. It took everything in her not to rip Josie’s clothes off right there.

Freya was amused by their little interaction, she turned to Keelin and said, _“Do you think if we met when we were teenagers, we would have been like that?”_

 _“Well considering that you’re over a thousand years old, it would have been very hard to meet as teenagers. But maybe in another life?”_ Keelin laughed.

 _“I still can’t believe you stayed with me after I held you captive, drained you of your venom and tortured you. I love you, you know that, right?”_ Freya smiled.

 _“Yeah, I know. I love you too.”_ Keelin agreed.

 _“Girls, why don’t you go and get yourself something to eat. We’ll let you know when it’s time to come back.”_ Freya said.

 _“Okay, Aunt Freya. Do you guys want anything?”_ Hope replied.

 _“No, it’s okay. Thanks for asking though.”_ Keelin replied.

Hope, Josie and Lizzie made their way upstairs to the Kitchen and got themselves something to eat.

 _“Ugh, why do I always have to be stuck with you two?”_ Lizzie grumbled.

 _“If we’re that much of a burden Lizzie, why don’t you go and find MG or something and leave us alone?”_ Hope laughed.

Lizzie huffed, picked up a bag of crisps and walked off.

 _“You could be nicer to her, you know.”_ Josie said once she was sure Lizzie was out of earshot. _“I know she can be a pain in the arse, but she is still my sister.”_

 _“I know. I’m trying to be nicer to her… But she makes it so hard at times.”_ Hope frowned. _“Here’s your phone back, by the way. So, what do you want to eat?”_

 _“Oh. Thanks… That’s a tough one. I could eat some poached egg on toast, but I could also eat you.”_ Josie took her phone from Hope and placed it in her pocket before she grinned as she wrapped her arms around the front of the shorter girl’s waist, pulling her closer and started to leave a trail of kisses down her girlfriend’s neck.

Hope moaned at the feeling; her fingers interlaced with Josie’s as her head fell back into the brunette’s shoulder. _“Baby, as much as I love you and what you are doing to me right now. We need to stop and have something to eat. We both haven’t eaten for well over a day by this point. Plus we need to talk as well.”_

 _“What if I don’t want to talk?”_ Josie mumbled against the skin on Hope’s neck, she was clearly preoccupied with one thing, and one thing only.

 _“Jose, I’m being serious. We need to talk. We are going to have plenty of time for this later, okay?”_ Hope replied as she separated her hands from the brunette’s and stepped away from her embrace. She turned to face Josie and she saw the pout forming across the taller girl’s lips. _“Look baby, these past few days have been really tough on all of us. Especially for you. Something happened between us before you were taken. We never got to talk about what happened with Landon.”_

 _“Why should we talk about it? You’re here. He’s not. That seems simple enough.”_ Josie shrugged.

_“Josie. You know that there is more to it than that. You’ve been through an ordeal and you’re not thinking things through clearly.”_

_“Are you calling me crazy? I’m not my sister, Hope! You know what. I can’t deal with you right now.”_ Josie spat as she stepped away from Hope and walked out of the room. Leaving Hope stood in the kitchen with a very confused look on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the angst in these chapters! I hate writing it, but it was necessary.


	19. Things Just Go from Bad to Worse.

Chapter 19- Things Just Go from Bad to Worse.

About an hour has passed since Josie left Hope standing alone in the Kitchen. Josie was pissed and she had every right to be, especially after everything that she had just experienced. She needed Hope to be there for her, care for her, not question her. Yes, physically she was healed thanks to Hope’s blood, but emotionally? She was all messed up.

She had experienced a lot in the past week. She went from having no memories of Hope to being able to remember her whole life story, she almost had sex with her (six times and twice in one day) to watching her girlfriend kiss another person -quite passionately I might add- to being kidnapped by her sociopathic uncle and held captive for over a day, where he tied her up, stabbed her and tortured her.

This shouldn’t have been her life. This is not the life that she wanted. On days like today, she wished she was normal and not supernatural at all. She wanted to forget about her problems for a while, she needed too. It was all too much to deal with. Hope was too much to deal with. Hope wanted to talk, how funny is that? The queen of stoic, the woman who doesn’t talk to anyone about anything wanted to talk to her about what she had experienced? Yeah, no, Josie wasn’t going to be doing that. At least not today.

Josie had walked around the school grounds aimlessly but somehow, she found herself down by the lake. The same lake she was kidnapped from less than two days ago. She always found peace here, no matter what had happened in the past. Josie pulled her phone out of her pocket and ran it through her fingers a couple of times before she decided to call her mother. She started to cry as soon as she heard her mom’s voice on the other end of the line.

Caroline and Josie’s phone call:

Caroline: _Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?_

Josie: _Hey mom. I take it Dad called you?_

Caroline: _Yeah, he did. He was worried about you. So was I._

Josie: _I’m sorry._

Caroline: _What are you sorry for sweetie?_

Josie: _I’m sorry for making you all worried._

Caroline: _You don’t need to apologise for that. You never need to apologise for that Josie._

Josie: _I just don’t know what to do anymore._

Caroline: _Tell me what’s been going on._

Josie: _(laughs wetly) Where do you want me to start?_

Caroline: _From wherever you feel comfortable sweetie. Or you don’t have to speak at all._

Josie: _Are you coming home?_

Caroline: _I’m not sure._

Josie: _Oh._ (There was a dead silence on the phone. It was a couple of minutes before someone spoke again.)

Caroline: _Where are you?_

Josie: _I’m just sat down by the lake, why?_

Caroline: _How come you’re not with your sister?_

Josie: _She was annoying me. Just add it to the list of the other people who are annoying me today._

Josie was wrapped up in her thoughts and the scenery that she didn’t realise someone was walking up behind her.

 _“Who else is annoying you today?”_ Caroline asked as she ended the call and sat down beside her daughter.

 _“Mom! What are you doing here?! Why didn’t you tell me you were here already?”_ Josie cried as she threw herself into her mother’s arms.

 _“I wanted it to be a surprise. I thought it would cheer you up.”_ Caroline replied as she held her daughter and stroked her hair.

_“Does anyone else know that you are here?”_

_“No not yet. I was actually just driving through the gates when you called. I was going to come and find you first.”_

_“Why are you here? Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy that you are here… but why now?”_

_“Because you needed me, and I wanted to be here. We never really get to spend much time together. You know how Lizzie can be.”_

_“Thank you, mom.”_

_“Now do you want to talk about what’s happened?”_

_“Not right now. Let me just rest here for a while.”_

_“Okay sweetie.”_ Caroline replied before she fell silent. Josie was so physically and emotionally exhausted that she fell asleep in her mom’s lap. Caroline waited for her breathing to level out before she picked her up and carried her back to the school. Caroline carried Josie up to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed, she wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her until she herself drifted off to sleep.

***

Hope couldn’t explain Josie’s reaction. She was shocked and confused by what had just happened. She didn’t call Josie crazy, she never even implied it as far as she could tell. She wanted to run after her to try and find out what happened. But a part of her knew that there was no point, Josie would come and find her when she’s ready. That’s one thing she could always count on, Josie always came back to her no matter what happened. Hope pushed the thoughts out of her head and fixed herself something to eat.

Once Hope had eaten, she headed through the school, back down to the tunnels to find Alaric and the others.

The group of adults were huddled together just passed the stairs; they were all talking in a whispered hush. Hope hovered on the stairs for a few minutes and listened to what they were talking about. From what Hope could make out, they were talking about Stephanie Salvatore. Bonnie had said that she had found her, but she needed someone to go get her.

 _“I’ll go.”_ Hope offered as she descended the stairs. The group simultaneously whipped their heads around to see Hope walking towards them.

 _“How long have you been standing there?”_ Alaric asked.

 _“Long enough.”_ Hope shrugged. _“I’ll go and get Stephanie. Just tell me where she is.”_

 _“No, It’s too dangerous.”_ Alaric replied.

 _“Are you being serious? After everything that I’ve done today and what I’ve done for the school in the past 2 years, you’re telling me it’s too dangerous?”_ Hope seethed.

 _“I… erm… Yes. I’m telling you it’s too dangerous. I need you here to protect the school… Where’s Josie?”_ Alaric frowned.

 _“That’s rich coming from you Alaric. You know that I’m the best person for this. I’ll take aunt Keelin with me if you’re that bothered.”_ Hope shrugged, completely ignoring his question about Josie. She didn’t really want to explain how they somehow managed to get into a fight only a few hours after they got back. _“Bonnie. Tell me where I need to go and what I need to do. Me and Aunt Keelin will take care of it.”_

 _“You’re going to need to take one of the twins with you as well.”_ Bonnie replied. _“Knowing Kai he would have put a protection barrier around her. And it might be a trap.”_

 _“Ugh. Fine. I’ll take Lizzie with me. Josie could use a rest for today. But if she dies, it’s not my fault.”_ Hope stated somewhat jokingly. _“Give all the details to Keelin and I’ll go and get Lizzie. Hopefully I won’t kill her in the process.”_

 _“Would it kill you to be nice to Lizzie?”_ Alaric retorted.

 _“Yes, it just might.”_ Hope threw over her shoulder as she turned and walked away.

Hope found Lizzie down in the transition cellars with Kaleb and MG. _“Hey, weirdo. You’re coming with me.”_ Hope called as she walked into the cellars.

 _“Who are you calling a weirdo?”_ Kaleb and MG asked at the same time.

 _“Lizzie.”_ Hope smiled.

 _“I’m not going anywhere with you. You might kill me.”_ Lizzie retorted.

 _“You could only wish you would be so lucky.”_ Hope countered. _“Come on. We don’t have a lot of time.”_

 _“I’m not going. And you can’t make me.”_ Lizzie stood her ground.

 _“You know full well that I can make you. Now don’t make me do it for you. I don’t think your dad would be very happy if I hurt you.”_ Hope stared Lizzie down.

Lizzie groaned as she pushed herself up off the floor. _“If I’m not back in 30 minutes, call the police.”_ Lizzie pleaded with MG.

 _“We’re going to be gone longer than 30 minutes.”_ Hope replied.

_“Oh God. I’m definitely going to die.”_

_“Lizzie! You really need to stop being so dramatic. I’m not going to kill you. But you might die. And I thought I’d risk your life today instead of Josie’s.”_ Hope shrugged.

 _“Hey, girls. Are you ready?”_ Keelin asked as she made her way down to the cellars.

 _“I’m ready. Lizzie’s being stubborn as usual.”_ Hope replied.

_“I’m not being stubborn. I just don’t want Hope to kill me.”_

_“Hope isn’t going to kill you. I won’t let her, plus I don’t think Alaric would be too happy about it.”_ Keelin laughed. _“Come on. We don’t have a lot of time left.”_

 _You’re the second person to say that. Where are we supposedly going?”_ Lizzie frowned as she crossed her arms.

 _“We are going to get Stephanie Salvatore.”_ Keelin replied.

 _“Well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”_ Lizzie backhanded Hope’s arm as she walked past her and started to follow Keelin out of the cellars. Hope frowned at the attack but quickly followed suit.

Keelin drove the girls out to the warehouse where Stephanie was. The whole ride over there Hope and Lizzie didn’t stop bickering about one thing or another. Keelin told them off several times, they would quieten down for a short time before they started again. Keelin was just about at the end of her tether when they approached the building.

 _“Finally.”_ Keelin whispered as she pulled the car up to park. Hope shot her a look. Keelin stared at her, before she shook her head and got out of the car. Hope and Lizzie followed.

 _“So why exactly am I here?”_ Lizzie asked as they walked towards the building.

 _“You’re here incase we need to syphon anything. Kai might have put a barrier spell around the building that could prevent us from getting inside.”_ Keelin replied.

_“Anyway why couldn’t Josie have done it?”_

_“Why do you think?!”_ Hope spat. Her body tensed up at the mention of Josie’s name. She hated feeling like this.

 _“Oh.”_ Lizzie replied.

The rest of the short walk was quiet between the girls. Once they approached the building Hope stopped. _“There’s magic here. I can feel it.”_ Hope stated.

 _“I can too.”_ Lizzie returned.

Hope picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at the building. The stone became electrified and fragmented on impact. _“That’s some serious magic.”_ Keelin said.

 _“Okay. Go and syphon it, Lizzie.”_ Hope said.

 _“Why me?! I don’t want to get electrocuted.”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“Well I can’t do it, can I?! God Lizzie you are so dense.”_ Hope retorted.

_“You know what Hope? Fuck you!”_

_“You only wish you could.”_ Hope laughed.

Lizzie was so shocked by the comment that she stormed over to the building and started to syphon the magic. As she was syphoning, she turned to Hope and casted a spell that sent Hope flying backwards through the air, before she landed about 20 feet back from her original position.

Lizzie grinned smugly, proud of what she had done knocking Hope Mikaelson off her feet. Hope pushed herself up to standing and went to cast a counter spell at Lizzie but Keelin stood in the way.

 _“Hope. Don’t you dare think about doing that spell. It’s not worth it.”_ Keelin stated. _“Go for a walk before you do something you regret.”_

 _“She started it! Why do I have to walk away?!”_ Hope shouted.

 _“Hope! GO NOW!”_ Keelin growled.

 _“FINE!”_ Hope stormed off. Today’s events were getting to her. Lizzie had been more of a pain in the arse than usual and it was starting to grate on her. She felt off ever since she went to collect Lizzie from the cellars, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Hope decided it would be best if she wolfed out. She quickly stormed off to the car and got undressed, throwing her clothes onto the passenger seat and wolfed out.

Once in her wolf form she took off back towards the warehouse. Once she got closer, she figured something was different. Keelin and Lizzie were nowhere to be seen. Hope charged at the building, forcing the door open. Once inside, she saw Kai leaning over Stephanie’s and Keelin’s body.

 _“Glad you could join me Hope. It is Hope, isn’t it?”_ Kai laughed.

Hope pounced full force at Kai but was knocked back. She did it again, but the same thing happened.

_“Now, now, Hope… You’re going to tire yourself out if you keep doing that… Oh by the way. Did you think I did a good impression of Lizzie?”_

Hope growled at him, baring her teeth. She shuffled back slightly before she forced herself forwards again. This time Kai casted a spell which sent Hope flying to the other side of the building, she landed with a whimper but got back up again.

 _“You really don’t give up, do you?”_ Kai asked, amused. _“When will you learn? You are not going to kill me today, or ever for that matter. Because once I completely drain dear little Stephanie here, I will be able to complete my body transfer. I mean, who would expect that? I can leave here in the body of a 16-year-old girl and nobody would ask many questions. I could just say that you all died trying to save me. I mean if I could fool you and… that woman, sorry I don’t know her name, that I was Lizzie Saltzman, then I think I could pass as Stephanie very well, don’t you?”_

Hope paced around, staring at Kai, waiting for the right moment, for him to make the wrong step and she would attack. She just wished she didn’t have to wait too long. As she paced, her thoughts went to Josie and Lizzie (surprisingly), if Lizzie wasn’t actually here with them, then where was she? And what had Kai done with her. She concentrated on Josie, trying to find that connection they shared earlier. She was screaming in her head for Josie to hear her, but she didn’t know if she could. Hope decided to try a different tactic, something she hadn’t done before, but she’s heard her Aunt Freya talk about it, she was going to try and dream jump. It only works if the other person is sleeping though, and she’s definitely never done it in wolf form before.

If there was ever a chance to prove her lineage, now would be the time. The great Mikaelson clan was famous for doing stupid, reckless shit, but they were also famous for their witchcraft. Now would be the perfect chance to try it.

Hope, still in her wolf form, closed her eyes briefly and thought of Josie. In her head she was muttering a spell that she had heard Freya using before. After a few minutes, she started to get images of Josie’s dream in her head. She searched around for a few seconds before she found Josie sitting on the grass overlooking the Lake.

 _“Josie!”_ Hope called.

***

_“HOPE!”_ Josie startled herself awake, waking up Caroline in the process. It took Josie a few seconds to register where she was.

 _“What’s the matter sweetie?”_ Caroline asked, puzzled.

 _“Something is wrong. Come with me, quickly. We need to find Dad.”_ Josie pushed herself up from the bed and ran out of the room, Caroline quickly followed. Josie made a quick detour to Hope’s old bedroom and pulled up the floorboards underneath the bed. She pulled out the massive _‘entire works of Shakespeare’_ binder that was secretly the Mikaelson’s family Grimoire. She pulled out the black magic death spell and placed it in her pocket. 

Josie ran through the school and down to the tunnels where she found Alaric standing over Kai’s body with a sword in his hand. _“WAIT DAD! DON’T! THAT’S NOT KAI!”_ Josie shouted as she struggled to catch her breath from the running.

 _“What do you mean it’s not Kai?”_ Alaric frowned.

 _“Hope just came to me in a dream. That’s not Kai. She’s with Kai.”_ Josie panted.

_“You’ve lost me. Explain it.”_

_“I was asleep, and I was dreaming. Hope was there, naked. She told me that Lizzie is missing, and that Kai has Stephanie and Keelin hostage. Apparently, he did some sort of body switching spell to make himself look like Lizzie. And he’s trying to drain Stephanie’s blood so that he can take over her body. She doesn’t know where Lizzie is though. So we need to find her, and we need to save Hope and the others.”_ Josie rushed to explain.

 _“That doesn’t make any sense. We’ve been with Lizzie all day. There was no way he could have done it.”_ Alaric replied.

 _“Actually there was some time where no one was with Lizzie. Lizzie was moaning about having to be stuck with me and Hope all day, so Hope told her to leave and go annoy MG. Then me and Hope got into a fight and I walked out to the lake, then mom turned up. Hope said that when she went down to the cellars to get Lizzie she was there. So she was missing for about 20 minutes or so.”_ Josie returned.

 _“Wait, Caroline is here? When did she get here?”_ Alaric frowned.

 _“That’s not the point dad. We need to find Lizzie!”_ Josie spat.

 _“Yeah, your right. Keep an eye on whoever that is. Me and Josie will go and find Lizzie.”_ Alaric spoke to Bonnie and Freya before he took off with Josie up the stairs.

Caroline started to follow Josie out of the bedroom, but she got distracted by a noise coming from the Kitchen. There was a muffled banging coming from inside the blood bag fridge. When she pulled the door open, Lizzie tumbled out through the door, into the arms of her mother. Her hands were tied together, and her mouth was gagged. Lizzie’s eyes went wide at the sight of her mom and she started talking.

 _“Sweetie, I can’t understand you. Stop squirming and I’ll take the gag off.”_ Caroline reassured her. Lizzie stopped moving at stood up straight. Caroline released the gag and Lizzie took a deep breath.

 _“MOM! What are you doing here? I thought you was out the country?”_ Lizzie rushed.

 _“Your dad called me yesterday when he found out that Josie was missing. I caught the first flight out here. I got in about 2 hours ago.”_ Caroline replied as she untied Lizzie’s arms.

Once Lizzie’s arms were free, she quickly pulled her mom into a hug. _“I’ve missed you.”_ She muttered.

 _“I missed you too Lizzie.”_ Caroline smiled. _“Right we need to go and find Josie and your dad. How did you end up in the freezer tied up anyway?”_

 _“Kaleb and MG said that they wanted a blood bag each, they’ve not eaten all morning, so I said that I would get them one. When I came up here and walked into the fridge someone knocked me out and tied me up. I don’t know who it was.”_ Lizzie rubbed her head slightly, frowning as the two of them walked out of the Kitchen and straight into Josie and Alaric.

Lizzie quickly wrapped her arms around Alaric and hugged him. Josie interrupted them. _“Sorry, but we are kind of on a time frame right now, so we need to get going.”_

 _“Why where are we going?”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“To save Hope, Keelin and Stephanie from Kai. Bonnie’s given us the details. It’s about a 30-minute drive from here. So we need to move. Hope said that she doesn’t know how much longer Stephanie will last.”_ Josie replied.

 _“How do you know that?”_ Lizzie asked.

 _“Now’s not the time to get into the little details Lizzie.”_ Josie replied.

The family of four jumped into Alaric’s car and they soon set off towards the warehouse. The 30-minute drive was both long and short, because Alaric was driving well over the speed limit, but he didn’t care. They pulled up next to Keelin’s car and got out, Josie rushed to Keelin’s car and pulled Hope’s clothes from the seat before she joined the rest of her family as they made their way up to the warehouse.

Caroline sped ahead to the main entrance, forced her way inside and ran full speed at Kai but was knocked back. Caroline landed next to a growling wolf. _“Oh shit!”_ She quickly stood up and moved away from it. It wasn’t long before the rest of the Saltzman’s came running through the door. Josie threw Hope’s clothes over to her as Alaric had his crossbow in hand and pointed it right at Kai.

 _“LET THEM GO KAI!”_ Alaric called.

 _“Ooo, I’m so scared.”_ Kai laughed. _“What are you going to do to me?”_

 _“You shouldn’t be worried about me. You should be worried about them.”_ Alaric gestured towards his twins.

Josie and Lizzie were stood either side of a now human and clothed Hope and were holding her hands, syphoning magic. The three of them started to recite the death spell and they watched Kai keel over, stumbling out of his protection barrier. Caroline quickly broke a wooden beam and sped over to Kai, stabbing him through the heart.

Kai’s body started to desiccate almost immediately from the combination of the spell and the stake. Josie and Lizzie dropped their hands from Hope’s, and they collapsed to the floor. Hope rushed over to Keelin and Stephanie. Keelin was alive and breathing, just unconscious. Stephanie on the other hand, was barely alive. Hope moved over to Stephanie, she bit her own wrist and brought it up to Stephanie’s lips.

Just before her wrist touched the other girl’s lips, Caroline pulled Hope away. _“Let me do it. She’s my niece.”_ Caroline smiled. _“You look after your aunt, okay?”_

Hope nodded as she moved back over to Keelin. Hope pulled Keelin up to standing, taking the brunt of the weight onto her left side as she dragged Keelin out to the car. She pushed her aunt into the backseat before she returned to the rest of the group.

 _“Is everyone okay in here?”_ Hope asked.

 _“Yeah we are fine thanks.”_ Alaric replied.

Hope’s eyes hovered towards Josie. She was debating about talking to her, but she decided against it. _“If you are all okay, I’m going to get my aunt back to the school.”_ Hope said as she turned to exit the building.

 _“Hope, wait. You can’t drive.”_ Alaric called.

 _“I can drive. I just don’t have a licence. I can put Aunt Keelin in the front seat, so it looks like she’s giving me a driving lesson.”_ Hope shrugged. _“And I’ll drive within the speed limits.”_

 _“I’d prefer it if you didn’t do that.”_ Alaric responded.

 _“Hey, it’s not like I can die. I don’t really see the harm in it. Plus you have a lot to deal with here. So…”_ Hope turned and walked away.

Hope just reached the car when she felt a hand on her back. She turned around and saw Josie standing there, her face flushed because she had been running. _“Give me the keys. I’ll drive.”_ Josie smiled weakly.

Hope reluctantly handed over the keys and climbed into the passenger seat as Josie moved swiftly around the car and got into the driver’s seat. _“Is she going to be okay like that?”_ Josie frowned as she spotted Keelin curled up on the backseat.

 _“Yeah, she will be fine.”_ Hope shrugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... Kai is finally dead! (in this story anyways) I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Sorry for the angst D:


	20. All I See Is You.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! This is the second to last chapter guys! D: It's coming to an end! I'm so appreciative of all the comments and kudos you've left me! With that being said. I hope you enjoy this chapter! The ending should be out Sunday or Monday!

Chapter 20- All I See Is You.

Josie hesitated for a few seconds before she put the key in the ignition and turned it, causing the car to purr into life. She looked over at Hope briefly and sighed, before she trained her eyes onto the road and pulled the car out from its spot. The car jutted down the highway for about ten minutes before Josie huffed and reached for her phone. She connected the AUX cable with ease and scrolled through her playlist, rightly named Hope, until she found the song she was looking for.

The car swerved slightly as Josie became excited.

_“Jesus, Josie! Pay attention to the road and not your phone! I don’t want to explain to your dad why you became a heretic!”_ Hope exaggerated dramatically.

_“I am perfectly capable of multi-tasking, thank you very much. And I want you to listen to this song. Like really listen to it.”_

_“Whatever. It’ll be your funeral.”_ Hope shrugged. She hated being this way with Josie, but she just didn’t know what to say to her.

Hope was lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard the song Josie was playing. Josie tried talking to her, but she didn’t reply. Josie was pissed off again, she forcefully veered the car off the highway onto a dirt road and slammed the brakes. Keelin came flying off the backseat and fell into the footwell. Hope’s hands landed on the dashboard to steady herself.

_“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!”_ Hope yelled as she turned to face Josie.

_“BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN THE GREAT HOPE MIKAELSON DOESN’T LISTEN TO ANYBODY BUT HERSELF!”_ Josie spat. _“I was trying to talk to you. I wanted you to understand why I’ve been acting off but you’re so far up your own ass, that you didn’t hear a word that I said to you.”_ Josie huffed as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. She opened a door to the backseats and tried to pull Keelin back up, but she struggled. _“Are you going to help? Or are you just going to sit there like a moron?”_

_“Why should I help? this is your fault.”_ Hope replied. Josie stared at her. Hope finally relented and got out the car. She made her way to the other door and pulled Keelin back onto the backseat in one quick motion.

_“This isn’t wasn’t entirely my fault Hope, and you know it!”_ Josie retorted.

_“YES JOSIE! THIS IS MY FAULT! ALL OF THIS IS MY FAULT! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN BORN! I’M A TRIBRID FOR FUCK SAKE! THAT ISN’T NATURAL! I WAS BORN TO END MALIVORE, THAT IS MY ONE PURPOSE IN LIFE APPARENTLY! I TRIED TO DO THAT, BUT I FUCKED THAT UP TOO. IF I HADN’T JUMPED INTO THE PIT THEN YOU WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO GIVE EVERYONE THEIR MEMORIES BACK AND ALYSSA WOULD STILL BE A BITCH AND BUT KAI WOULD STILL BE TRAPPED IN THE PRISON WORLD, INSTEAD OF RUNNING AROUND KINAPPING PEOPLE! AND HE WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN YOU AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE… You would have been safe, without me.”_ Hope couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Hope heaved as she slammed the car door shut, turning her back and slid down the car, her knees bent up to her chest and she buried her face in her hands, crying heavily and uncontrollably.

Josie stood there, motionless and unable to speak, unable to process what Hope had just said. After a few minutes of stunned silence, Josie finally moved. She joined Hope on the floor, next to the car and pulled Hope’s into her lap. _“Baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. This is not your fault. None of it is. I’d just been through a really traumatic experience which wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last time either. And I just needed time to deal with it my way. When by bio-mom buried me alive, the first thing I did, after a shower, was have sex with Penelope. It’s how I cope. Granted, I should probably learn better coping techniques, but they work for me… But I shouldn’t have said it was your fault. It was stupid and I was angry. Baby, I know you, okay? You are the best person I know, and I wouldn’t wish for anything different. You mean so much to me. I’ve always felt safe around you. Even when you hid yourself away… just knowing that you were there made me feel safe. I love you so much baby. I never want to leave you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You mean everything to me. I just wish we would both could speak to each other honestly. It’s something we can learn together. I love you Hope, with all my heart.”_ Josie draped her left arm over Hope’s stomach as her right hand stroked her girlfriend’s hair.

They sat like this for about an hour, neither of them speaking. Hope managed to calm her tears and regain a normal breathing pattern. Hope pushed herself up and rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder, she wrapped her arm around the brunette’s waist. _“I love you too, you know. I’m sorry that I didn’t listen to you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t hear what you were trying to tell me. I’m sorry that I couldn’t see your pain. You will always have my heart, now and forever.”_

Hope brought her hand up from Josie’s waist and used it to turn her girlfriend’s face towards her own. Hope placed a chaste kiss on the brunette’s lips. _“Hmm, salty.”_ Josie laughed.

Hope playfully punched the younger girl’s shoulder. _“Why did you have to ruin a perfect moment with that?”_

_“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean to; I just couldn’t help it.”_ Josie smiled.

_“Will you play me that song again?”_ Hope asked.

_“Sure. Let me just get my phone.”_ Josie stood up and wiped the dirt from her ass and onto Hope’s lap as she stepped over her. Hope’s hands immediately grabbed Josie’s slender legs, knocking her knees from under her and pulled her down onto her lap. _“Argh! HOPE!”_

_“I changed my mind…”_ Hope smirked as crashed her lips into the brunette’s. It was frantic and passionate. Still intertwined, Hope leaned forward and lowered Josie to the floor, climbing on top of her, grinding her hips in-between the brunette’s legs. Her hands wandered across the younger girl’s body.

_“Babe. As much as I want this… I don’t want our first time to be in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road, with your aunt, magically unconscious in the back of a car, less than two feet away.”_ Josie moaned.

_“I don’t have the best timing, do I?”_ Hope laughed.

_“It could be a little better.”_ Josie smiled as she propped herself up onto her elbows, causing Hope to shuffle back onto her knees. _“Get my phone.”_

_“Get it yourself.”_ Hope smirked.

_“Hmm, well you kinda have me pinned down right now.”_

_“Ugh, fine.”_ Hope groaned as she pushed herself up, turned around and walked the short distance to the car, taking her time to try and gracefully bend over the seat to pick up the phone. It didn’t work out very well though, considering Hope’s small stature and the size of the Land Rover. She huffed as she turned around and gently threw the phone to its owner.

_“Thanks babe. That was… something else.”_ Josie laughed. _“Definitely special. You’ll have to do it again some time.”_

_“Oh shut up.”_ Hope frowned, but it didn’t last long before Josie’s laugh infected her too.

_“Come and lie here with me?”_ Josie smiled as she stretched her arms out towards Hope. Hope smiled as she gladly joined her girlfriend on the floor. Hope laid her head on Josie’s shoulder and draped her arm around the brunette’s waist.

Josie unlocked her phone and saw that she had 2 missed calls from Caroline, 2 from Alaric and 5 from Lizzie. Josie groaned. She quickly typed out a generic text to the three of them.

Josie: _Me and Hope needed to talk. Keelin is fine, still passed out. Will be back in about 30 mins x_

Lizzie: _Ew. Gross._ _Just keep it in your pants._

Caroline: _Okay sweetie. Hope you work everything out, see you soon x_

Alaric didn’t bother replying.

_“Are you going to play me that song now?”_ Hope smiled.

_“Only if you promise that you will actually listen to it this time.”_ Josie replied.

_“I promise baby.”_ Hope placed a simple kiss on the brunette’s neck. Causing a shiver down the younger girl’s spine.

Josie scrolled through her playlist and found the song again. She turned the volume all the way up and placed her phone on her chest as she interlocked her fingers with Hope’s.

_When I look into your face, there’s no more dreaming._

_When I look into your eyes, there’s no more words._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_Got a laugh I could catch, and a smile that,_

_Could take over my brain in fact it has._

_Miss you when you’re gone, and time drags on,_

_Who knew people could fall so fast?_

_‘Cause there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,_

_No-one else I’d rather see._

_Controlling every part of me,_

_I love skipping a beat every time you speak._

_And no-one ever made me feel this way,_

_That’s why I wanna tell you every day._

_When I look into your face, there’s no more dreaming._

_When I look into your eyes, there’s no more words._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_Got a body to die for, eyes that I smile for._

_Realised you were special the first night that I saw you,_

_And you grabbed me, that’s when you had me._

_Now you’ve got me anytime and I’ll make you happy._

_Let’s go places no-one goes,_

_tell me things no-one knows._

_I look at you just the way you like,_

_So you’ll know what you’ll do with me tonight._

_And no-one ever made me feel this way,_

_That’s why I wanna tell you every day._

_When I look into your face, there’s no more dreaming._

_When I look into your eyes, there’s no more words._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_And I must conclude, all I see is you._

_I’m done being old me and breaking all the rules._

_Feel you could take me, show me who._

_I could be me, just be me with you._

_I want you to know all the good and bad,_

_‘cause you accept that makes me who I am._

_And no-one’s ever made me feel this way,_

_That’s why I wanna tell you every day._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_When I look into your face, there’s no more dreaming._

_When I look into your eyes, there’s no more words._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_Butterflies, long drives and sunset evenings,_

_Basically you could knock me off the ea-aa-aa-arth._

_“Oh baby. That is… so sweet and lovely. I love you so much. I now realise why you got so pissed off. I wish I listened to it the first time.”_ Hope spoke softly as she buried her face deeper into Josie’s neck, pulling her closer at the waist.

_“I love you too Hope. And I’m sorry I got pissed off, I need to work on it.”_ Josie softly grazed her hand down her girlfriend’s back. The two girls were content with each other right now that neither of them wanted to move. Finally Josie sighed. _“Baby. We should probably be getting back to the school now.”_

_“I know. But I don’t really want to. I just want to stay here with you.”_ Hope groaned.

_“We will have plenty of time to do this later. But if we don’t get back soon, I reckon your Aunt Freya and my Mom will send out a search party for us.”_ Josie laughed as she gently pushed Hope off from her body. Immediately regretting it as she is filled with the cold breeze and the lack of body heat no longer at her side. She sighed as she sat up. She rested for a few seconds before she stood up, holding out a hand for Hope.

Hope reluctantly took the offered hand and stood up. She pulled Josie into another hug and kissed her. She dropped her head from Josie’s lips and rested it on her shoulder again. After a few seconds, she pulled away. _“Okay, I’m ready… Well I’m not, but we can’t stay here any longer. I love you.”_

_“When we get back and we sort everything out, we will find some time for ourselves, I promise. I love you too.”_ Josie replied as she separated from Hope and moved back around to the driver’s seat and climbed in. Hope was already sat in her seat, waiting for her.

Once Josie settled into her seat, she reached over and squeezed Hope’s hand slightly before she turned back to the keys in the ignition and restarted their journey back to the school. They both seemed happier now. Gentle music flowed through the car but neither of them spoke.

***

Alaric, Caroline, Lizzie and Stephanie made it back to the school in one piece. Caroline had stuffed Kai’s desiccated body in the trunk of the car, and they drove back to the school in relative silence. Caroline told Stephanie to call her mom to meet them at the school. Once back at the school, Caroline made sure everyone was safely inside before she called Bonnie out to the car.

_“Hey Bonnie. Thanks for agreeing to this.”_

_“It’s okay, Caroline. I’m sorry that I didn’t kill the bastard when I had the chance the first time. I’m sorry it came to this.”_

_“It’s fine. He’s dead now. That’s all that matters.”_

_“Yeah. So what exactly is the plan?”_

_“I was thinking that we could burn his body in the furnace. Or we could send his body back into the prison world and destroy the Ascendent.”_

_“We’ll send him back to the prison world and destroy the Ascendent. We’ll scatter pieces of it across the world. So no one can put it back together.”_

_“Sounds good. What shall we do with him until tonight?”_

_“Let’s do for a drive.”_

Caroline let Bonnie drive the car over to the old Fell Church. Caroline realised where they were going as soon as they left the school. Bonnie and Caroline didn’t want to vocalise what they were doing because you never know who is listening.

Caroline took Kai’s body from the trunk and dragged it down to the tomb. She stopped just at the boundary. She pulled Kai’s body up to standing and pushed it across the threshold.

_“Will you be able to get the boundary down tonight?”_ Caroline asked.

_“Yes. But I might need the twin’s help to send him into the Prison World and destroy it though.”_ Bonnie replied.

_“Okay. I will let them know.”_ The two best friends covered up the tomb and headed back to the car. _“Elena should be at the school by now. It would be really good to see her again. I’ve missed both of you so much.”_ Caroline stated as they climbed into the car.

Once they arrived back at the school, they saw Elena and Damon were fussing over their daughter.

_“Thank you so much Caroline. I’m glad Stephanie is back home safe and thank you for healing her.”_ Elena said as she pulled her best friend into a hug.

_“It’s okay. I know you would have done it if the roles were reversed.”_ Caroline smiled. _“Why don’t the three of you stay for Lunch? I’m sure Lizzie and Josie would love to see you.”_

_“Yeah, that sounds lovely.”_ Elena replied.

***

It took Josie and Hope fifteen minutes to get back to the school. It was around 2pm when they arrived. Freya and Caroline were waiting outside the main doors for them. Hope had sent a quick text to Freya asking her to meet them outside so they could take Keelin back in.

The two older women helped Hope unload Keelin from the car and they took her inside to Alaric’s office. Josie greeted her mom with a hug before she slipped out of the office to go and find Lizzie and Stephanie and told Hope that she would come and find her later. Hope smiled at her before she turned her attention back to Freya and Keelin.

They placed Keelin on the sofa and watched as Freya got to work, trying to figure out why her wife hadn’t woken up yet. After about an hour of trying different spells, Keelin finally woke up. She was disorientated and couldn’t figure out how she got back to the school. Everything seemed fine. Keelin obviously had a lot of questions. But they were all explained by Hope. Keelin pulled her niece into a hug and thanked her.

_“We should go and get some food. I’m starving.”_ Keelin stated.

_“Why don’t we go to the Grill? Get off the campus before we head to the airport? I’m feeling a little cooped up in here.”_ Freya laughed.

_“Sounds good to me.”_ Hope replied. _“I just need to talk to Alaric real quick, then I’ll get Davina and we will head out.”_ Hope stood up and headed off to find Alaric.

Alaric was down in the transition cellars with Dorian. _“Hey Dr. S. Can I have a quick word?”_ Hope asked as she walked down the stairs.

_“Sure Hope. Is everything okay?”_ Alaric replied.

_“Yeah, everything is fine now. I think. I just wanted to know if it’s possible if I can stay at the house for a little while longer? As much as I’m happy that everyone now remembers who I am, I just think I need some space still. After everything that has happened over the past few days, I think people are going to need time to adjust.”_ Hope responded.

_“Erm yeah, that should be fine. I’ll be resuming my post as Headmaster anyway, so you’ll have the place to yourself. But I only have one condition. You will need to come here 3 times a week to speak with Emma. And if you want, I can get the teachers to set you some assignments to do as well.”_

_“Thank you, Dr. S. I will come back to the school full-time, but at the minute I think it’s best if I kept my distance.”_ Hope smiled.

_“That’s fine. Just stay safe. Where are you off to now?”_

_“Just heading out for something to eat with my Aunts. I think now that the school is safe, they are probably going to head home as well. And I need to get changed. I’ve been in the same clothes for the past two days. So I will see you on Friday.”_

_“Okay, that’s fine. Let me know if you need anything.”_

_“I will do. Bye Dr. S.”_

_“Goodbye Hope. Say thank you to your aunts for me?”_ Alaric smiled.

Hope nodded then quickly turned on her heels and headed back upstairs to find Davina. On her way Hope sent Josie a text.

Hope: _Hey Baby. Just to let you know, I’m going out for something to eat with my aunts before they head back to NOLA. Then I’m going back to the house. Need a shower and some fresh clothes. When you get done with your family, you’re more than welcome to come over :) xxx_

Josie: _Okay baby. Have a good time. Sure I’ll come by later ;) I’ll text you when I’m on my way. I love you xxx_

Hope: _I love you too <3 xxx_

The four women arrive at the Grill and find a table. It didn’t take long for the waiter to come over and they placed their orders. Once he had left, they started talking.

_“So what are you going to do now Hope?”_ Freya asked.

_“I don’t know. Alaric said that I can go back to the school. But I’m not sure.”_ Hope replied.

_“Don’t you want to go back to school?”_ Davina asked.

_“I do. But I also like it at Mystic Falls High. I made a friend there. She’s lovely and she didn’t judge me. Granted she doesn’t really know me, but it was refreshing.”_

_“But what about your friends at Salvatore? What about Josie?”_ Keelin asked.

_“I never really had any friends when I was there. Josie’s lovely and I don’t think it would bother her too much where I went to school. But I think… at least for the next few days, I’m still going to stay at Caroline’s house, where I’ve been staying since I got back. Alaric is returning to Salvatore as Headmaster. And he said that I could stay at the house for as long as I need to. As a condition to living in the house he said that I have to come in and speak with Emma 3 times a week and he’s going to get some of the teacher to set me some assignments. And me and Josie worked everything out. We all good now.”_ Hope replied.

_I’m glad you worked everything out. Believe it or not, I was actually waiting for you to bring it up. I heard everything that you said to her. Hope, I want you to know that you are not a mistake. You are loved. Especially by everyone sat here. If you ever feel lost, just pick up the phone and call one of us. Please.”_ Keelin replied, reaching her hand across the table to squeeze Hope’s.

_“Yes Hope. You are loved. We wouldn’t be here without you, none of us would. Without you, I wouldn’t have come back to try and kill you, I wouldn’t have met Keelin without you. And Davina probably wouldn’t have met Kol either. So for better or worse, you’re stuck with us. And we love you, no matter what. I’m sure Rebekah would have a few choice words for you as well, if she was here. And she will probably try and kill me when she finds out what happened… Well at least you have a plan. Are you going to be okay once we leave? We can stay longer if you need us too.”_ Freya asked.

_“Thank you. All of you. I love you all. Always and Forever right? Yes, I’m sure. You need to get back to Nik anyways. I’m sure he’s driving Kol crazy by now.”_ Hope laughed.

_“Always and forever.”_ The other three replied.

_“Ah, I’m sure he’s fine. Plus it will be good practice for him.”_ Davina laughed.

_“WHAT?!”_ The other three girls exclaimed in unison.

_“It’s nothing like that…”_ Davina laughed. _“Before I came out here, we were looking into adoption. We weren’t sure if we wanted to go the human route or the supernatural route. So you never know. You might have another niece or nephew or cousin soon.”_ Davina smiled.

_“Why didn’t you tell us before?”_ Hope asked.

_“Well we never really had the time to talk, especially with everything that had been going on. But I will definitely let you know when it happens.”_ Davina smiled.

They continued to chat long after they had eaten their food. It was around 6pm when they left the Grill. Freya drove Hope over to the house and dropped her off before the rest of them headed to the airport. Hope agreed to phone them once a week and promised to keep them updated about Josie. Hope stood on the drive and waved goodbye to her aunts.

Once the car disappeared out of sight, Hope turned towards the house and unlocked the door. She stepped inside and let the door close behind her. Hope walked over to Alaric’s alcohol cupboard and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. She got a glass tumbler out of the cupboard and poured herself a drink. She knocked it back in one shot then refilled her glass, taking them both over to the coffee table and dropped herself onto the sofa.

Hope sighed as she stretched her feet out onto the sofa and switched the TV on. She found a boring TV channel and let it play in the background as she decided to call Maya.

Hope and Maya’s phone call:

Maya: _Hey there stranger! How are you doing?_

Hope: _Hey! Sorry I’ve been MIA. It’s just been a crazy couple of days._

Maya: _Wanna talk about it?_

Hope: _Prepare for a whirlwind because you won’t believe it._

Maya: _Try me._

Hope: _So it all started on Monday. I went to see Josie at school, she wanted to give me a tour. When we were walking around, my ex-boyfriend showed up out of nowhere and just kissed me! It was kinda my fault though, I ghosted him for like 3 months, but I definitely wasn’t expecting him to show up at the school. Anyway, Josie saw that he kissed me, and she freaked out and ran off only to end up getting kidnapped by her sociopathic uncle. We managed to get her back safely, but it’s just been crazy. I haven’t slept properly, and I haven’t changed my clothes in three days. My aunts decided to pay me a visit as well. This is the first time since Sunday that I have been alone._

Maya: _Shit, man. That is fucked up. I’m glad that you are all okay. And I’m glad that Josie is safe as well. But I’m kinda diggin’ the fact that this is the first time that you’ve been alone since Sunday and you decided to call me. I definitely feel special._

Hope: _Oh, shut up. You’re such a weirdo at times. I guess I just missed my bestie._

Maya: _Aww, you’re too sweet Hope. I missed you too. School isn’t the same without you._

Hope: _Well, you might have to wait a bit longer. I’m not coming back to school this week. I just need some time to myself, to process everything. If you want, you can come round on Friday? After you finish school and we can have a proper catch up._

Maya: _Yeah that sounds good. I’ll drop you a text tomorrow. I gotta go, mom is riding on at me about doing my homework. I’ll talk to you later sweetie._

Hope: _Ah. How fun. Alright, I’ll talk to you later. Bye Maya._

Maya: _Bye Hope._

Just as Hope had finished her second glass of whiskey and ended her phone call with Maya, she received a text message from Josie.

Josie: _Just leaving the school now. Got the car from Lizzie, so should be about 15 mins xxx_

Hope: _Okay baby, see you soon xxx_

Hope left the bottle of whiskey on the table and headed upstairs for a shower. She moved into her bedroom and got undressed. She grabbed a towel from the airing cupboard then made her way into the bathroom. Hope focused on her shower but kept an ear out for Josie coming through the front door.

Hope mind drifted slightly, but she finished her shower and started to dry off when she heard Josie calling out to her. She wrapped the towel around herself and opened the door when she heard the brunette’s footsteps hit the landing. Walking straight into her. (This time on purpose.)

_“Oh shit. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”_ Hope smirked, running one hand through her wet hair whilst the other lightly gripped the towel.

_“You are a terrible liar.”_ Josie replied. _“I bet you were waiting for me behind the door, weren’t you?”_

_“Ah, you caught me.”_ Hope laughed as she stepped closer to the brunette, bringing her lips to meet Josie’s in a kiss. _“Hey baby.”_ She smiled as she wrapped her arms around the taller girl’s neck, letting the towel fall to the floor.

_“Hey beautiful.”_ Josie replied. Her eyes went wide when she heard the towel hit the floor. She looked down and saw her girlfriend in all her naked glory. She looked back up to Hope’s eyes and bit her own lip. _“Ah, so this was your plan all along? Get me alone, drop your towel then what? Another tease show while you get dressed?”_

_“I was thinking about doing something else in-between that.”_ Hope wiggled her eyebrows slightly.

_“Oh really?”_ Josie laughed.

_“Hmm. Really.”_ Hope smiled as she leaned in for another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used in this fic is Butterflies by Lucy Spraggan. I highly recommend you give it a listen!


	21. All Good Things Come to An End.

Chapter 21- All Good Things Come to An End.

Hope’s lips crashed into Josie’s. Her hands rested on the brunette’s neck as she pushed Josie against the wall. Josie squealed slightly at the unexpected motion, but her right hand immediately went to Hope’s wet hair and her left hand lightly glided down the shorter girl’s back until it was halfway down her spine. The brunette dug her nails in and pulled Hope closer, causing the redhead to moan in response.

Hope’s tongue danced across Josie’s lower lip and pushed itself into the brunette’s mouth. Her tongue crashed into Josie’s. Josie dropped her hand from Hope’s wet locks and dragged her nails down the redhead’s spine to meet her other hand. Josie gathered her strength and pushed herself away from the wall and manoeuvred herself and pushed Hope into the bedroom door, never breaking their kiss.

One of Hope’s hands dropped from Josie’s neck as she pushed the door handle down, opening the door, and pulled Josie inside the room and pulled her towards the bed. Josie broke the kiss and forced Hope sideways across the mattress. Hope grinned at her girlfriend and tried to adjust herself up the bed.

 _“Don’t move.”_ Josie stated, her head tilted slightly to take in the older girl’s position. Hope’s back was flat against the mattress and her toned legs hanged over the edge of the bed; her feet cleared three inches off the ground. Hope propped herself up onto her elbows to investigate why Josie isn’t touching her. But she was stopped when Josie’s lips met hers.

 _“I said, don’t move.”_ Josie grinned as she parted herself from her girlfriend and pushed her down on the bed. Josie stood up and moved over to the dresser and pulled out her vibrator. She sauntered back over to her girlfriend and dropped to her knees. She placed the toy on the bed then wrapped her hands under Hope’s knees and pulled the shorter girl to the end of the bed, spreading her legs open.

 _“Oh shit.”_ Hope moaned at the sudden movement, her hands flailed on the mattress to try and stop it, but she quickly realised what was going to happen. Her hands stretched out to meet Josie’s that rested on her thighs, their fingers interlaced as Josie placed small, soft kisses on the inside of her girlfriend’s legs, taking her time. She kissed up the inside of Hope’s right thigh, skipped over her centre then trailed kisses down her left thigh, stopping just above the shorter girl’s knee.

The brunette stood up and hovered her face over Hope’s face. She dropped her mouth to the redhead’s ear and whispered, _“I’m going to fuck you now.”_ Before she lightly bit along Hope’s jawline and kissed her lips before she returned to her previous position. She trailed her tongue back up Hope’s thigh before it stopped just shy of her girlfriend’s pussy.

Josie unravelled her right hand from Hope’s and brought it down to her centre. Her fingers danced lightly over the lower lips before she used two fingers to part them as she flicked her tongue over the shorter girl’s clit. Her movements were soft and slow but deliberate. It was in that moment that Hope was glad her girlfriend was experienced.

Hope lifted her head slightly to try and catch a view of her girlfriend’s amazing work, only to be met by Josie’s chocolate brown eyes staring at her. Josie’s concentration and movements never broke once, and Hope could have sworn she saw the brunette grin at her from between her legs.

Josie picked up the purple toy and switched it on. The sounds of the light vibrations filled the silence that fell between Hope’s soft moans. Josie released her mouth from between Hope’s legs and shuffled back onto her heels as she brought the vibrator to the place her mouth just left. The brunette lightly placed the toy onto Hope’s clit and smiled when her girlfriend squirmed at the sensation.

Josie moved the toy up and down Hope’s length, letting the vibrations rest for a few seconds on the shorter girl’s entrance before she brought it back up to her clit. She did this several times before she took it back down to her entrance and left it there, before she slowly pushed it inside. _“Hmmm… fucckkk.”_ Hope moaned as Josie pushed the toy in about an inch before she pulled it back out, repeating the motion for a minute, each time pushing it further inside her girlfriend until she took the full length.

Josie’s hand steadied the toy as she watched Hope wriggle against the vibrations. _“Are you okay baby?”_ Josie asked. Hope nodded, unable to speak as her voice was caught in her throat by moans. Josie smiled at the sight of her girlfriend coming undone beneath her.

After a few seconds, Josie started to slowly thrust the vibrator within Hope’s walls, taking her time to build up pressure and speed. Hope moans filled the room as Josie started to thrust harder, her speed increased. Hope withered underneath her as she turned up the power of the vibrator. _“Fuuccckkk, Josssiiieeee.”_ Hope moaned. Josie laughed as she dipped her head to Hope’s stomach and started leaving small kisses along the redhead’s naval, slowly moving down to the top of her clit.

Josie’s free hand parted Hope’s lower lips and placed her tongue back on her girlfriend’s clit as she started to feel the shorter girl’s hips buck underneath her. After a few more seconds of intense thrusting, Josie pulled the toy out and dropped her mouth to Hope’s entrance.

The brunette rested her right hand on the redhead’s right hip as her left hand wrapped itself around Hope’s left thigh as she brought it onto her shoulder. The first two fingers of her left hand flicked over Hope’s clit in a furious and feverish pattern, she pushed her tongue inside Hope’s entrance as she felt her girlfriend’s thighs squeeze together around her face as she cummed into her mouth. _“FFFUUU-FFUUUCCCCKKKKK… JJOOO-JOSSIIIEEEE! DON’T… DON’T STOP… UGGHHHH… FFUUUCCCKKKK! I LOVE YOU!”_

After about thirty seconds Josie feels Hope’s body go limp around her. She slowly pulls away, stands up and lies herself down next to Hope’s heaving body, resting her head on the redhead’s arm. Hope rolls over onto her side to face Josie, grinning. Hope leans in and kisses Josie softly before she pulls away. _“That was… amazing. Better than I imagined.”_ Hope laughed. _“It kinda makes me glad that we got interrupted so many times before.”_

Josie laughed in response. _“I’m glad that we finally had sex, well… I’m glad that I could finally fuck you. I love you.”_ Josie leaned in and kissed Hope, softly and deep.

 _“Now it’s time to repay the favour.”_ Hope pushed Josie down on the bed and straddled her. Hope was feeling impatient and couldn’t deal with all the buttons on Josie’s shirt, so she grabbed hold of the shirt and pulled it open with very little force, smiling at the welcoming sight before her. Josie wasn’t wearing a bra. _“HOPE! That is the second shirt you’ve ruined now.”_ Josie tried to be serious, but she couldn’t help but laugh.

 _“Sorry.”_ Hope chuckled as she dipped her head down to Josie’s neck and started kissing and biting the left side of her girlfriend’s neck, forceful enough to leave marks, but not enough to make her bleed. Her hands rolled down the brunette’s stomach and her own body followed until she slipped off the edge of the bed. Hope’s hands rested on top of Josie’s shorts, she quickly unbuttoned them and pulled them off, along with her thong, bringing the brunette’s hips to the edge of the mattress in the process.

Hope smiled at Josie before her eyes fell back down to Josie’s already wet entrance. Hope hummed as she brought her mouth to her girlfriend’s lower lips, her tongue pushing through the folds until it found the little bundle of nerves.

It didn’t take long for Josie’s moans to fill the room. She was already dripping wet from what she did to Hope. She didn’t know how long she could last for as she felt herself already close to an orgasm. She forced herself to hold on for a little while longer. Hope pushed two fingers inside the brunette and started thrusting, her mouth still trained on the younger girl’s clit. Josie’s hands immediately tangled themselves in Hope’s hair as she forced the redhead closer. After a few more finger thrusts, Josie came. _“FUUCCCKKKK… HOOPPPEEEE.”_ Josie collapsed back onto the bed.

Hope laughs as she stands up and joins Josie on the bed. _“God, you are so beautiful. How did I ever get so lucky?”_ Hope smiles.

 _“I think I’m the lucky one. After everything we’ve been through? I think if I died now, I wouldn’t care.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Well considering that you still have my blood in your system, I’d be very happy about that, because then I can spend forever with you. But I don’t think your parents would be.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Ah, I forgot about that… Maybe I don’t want to die just yet.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Ouch. I’m offended.”_ Hope placed her hand over her heart and acted like she was wounded.

 _“Oh god. No. Not like that… I mean… I’d happily spend forever with you, but I’m still only 16. I want to be at least 20 before I make any decisions like that. I don’t want to go down the path my mom did. Or my dad for that matter… Did you know that he died like three separate times? I think I only want to die once. Or twice at a push. What I’m trying to say is that I love you and I would do anything for you, but if possible, I want to die of old age.”_ Josie rambled.

 _“You’re so cute when you ramble on. I’d want nothing more than for you to die of old age. As much as I’d love to spend forever with you, I would know what it’s not what you want.”_ Hope smiled as she rolled over to kiss Josie.

 _“What would happen if you died of old age? Would you still come back as a vampire?”_ Josie mused.

 _“I don’t actually know. I mean, I guess I would? Because a third of me is still a vampire. Oh wow. How weird would that be? Like me as an 80-year-old, grey hair, wrinkly skin, poor eyesight becoming a vampire? I think I would probably stake myself.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“Can you die by a normal stake?”_ Josie asked.

 _“Not sure, why do you ask? Not planning on staking me, are you? That’s not a very nice thing to do after you’ve just had sex with me.”_ Hope laughed.

 _“No, I’m not planning on staking you. Not now, or in the future… I only asked because you’re part original vampire right? Because your dad was an original and he could only die from the white oak stake. So that stands to reason that when you activate your vampire side you can only die by a White Oak stake, right?”_ Josie replied.

 _“Oh wow... Erm… I never really thought about that. Well I guess we will just have to wait and find out, right? I mean I could probably ask my Aunt Freya; she might know. But even if it’s true, there aren’t any White Oak stakes left, my dad used the last one.”_ Hope shrugged as she stood up from the bed and walked over to the dresser to pull out some clean clothes for her and Josie. She passed Josie the clothes and she quickly got dressed and headed downstairs.

When Hope got downstairs, she immediately went over to the sofa and poured herself another glass of Whiskey. She necked it in one shot and poured herself another. It didn’t take long for Josie to arrive. She silently walked over to Hope and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl’s waist and let her chin rest on her shoulder. _“I’m sorry if I upset you baby. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think before I said it.”_

 _“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. It’s only natural that you have them questions. I’ve had them myself. I just don’t like to think about it too much. It’s still too much to think about sometimes.”_ Hope replied as she gently swayed in the taller girl’s arms. _“Do you want a drink?”_

 _“Erm, no I’m good thanks. Maybe later.”_ Josie smiled. _“Still, I’m sorry. If you want to talk about it, I’m here okay?”_ Josie placed a kiss on the crease between Hope’s neck and shoulder. _“I love you.”_

 _“I love you too.”_ Hope smiled as she dropped her head back to meet Josie’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Josie released one had from the redhead’s waist and pulled her own phone from her pocket. She pulled up her playlist and scrolled to find a song. After a few seconds she found the song she was looking for. She pressed play and I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz started playing. She turned up the volume all the way up and dropped the phone onto the sofa, then wrapped her arms back around Hope’s waist. Josie started to sing along, swaying Hope in her arms.

_When I look into your eyes,_

_It’s like watching the night sky,_

_Or a beautiful sunrise._

_There’s so much they hold._

_And just like them old stars,_

_I see that you’ve come so far,_

_To be right where you are._

_How old is your soul?_

_I won’t give up on us,_

_Even if the skies get rough._

_I’m giving you all my love._

_I’m still looking up._

_And when you’re needing your space,_

_To do some navigating._

_I’ll be here patiently waiting,_

_To see what you find._

_‘Cause even the stars, they burn._

_Some even fall to the earth._

_We’ve got a lot to learn._

_God knows we’re worth it._

_No, I won’t give up._

_I don’t wanna be someone who walks away so easily,_

_I’m here to stay and make the difference I can make._

_Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use,_

_The tools and gifts we got yeah; we got a lot at stake._

_And in the end, you’re still my friend, at least we did intend,_

_For us to work, we didn’t break, we didn’t burn,_

_We had to learn how to bend,_

_Without the world, caving in._

_I had to learn what I’ve got,_

_And what I’ve not,_

_And who I am._

_I won’t give up on us,_

_Even if the skies get rough._

_I’m giving you all my love,_

_I’m still looking up._

_Still looking up._

_I won’t give up on us (no I’m not giving up),_

_God knows I’m tough enough (I am tough, I am loved),_

_We’ve got a lot to learn (We’re alive, we are loved),_

_God knows we’re worth it (And we’re worth it)._

_I won’t give up on us,_

_Even if the skies get rough._

_I’m giving you all my love,_

_I’m still looking up._

Halfway through the song, Hope had turned around in Josie’s arm and draped her own arms around the brunette’s neck. Her eyes open and watching the taller girl, smiling as she heard her girlfriend’s singing, tears rolled softly off her cheeks.

Once Josie had finished singing, she wiped away her girlfriend’s tears with her thumbs and placed a sweet kiss on each cheek, before she kissed her lips. When they parted, Josie’s thumbs traced the outlines of Hope’s face. _“You make me so happy Hope. I wish I could say that everything is going to work out and that we won’t ever have any trouble or any arguments. But we both know that that isn’t true. We are going to fight, and we are going to argue. But I want you to know that I will always come back to you. No matter what. We belong together. We always have done, and we always will do.”_

Hope couldn’t help but cry even harder at Josie’s words. Before Hope could speak, Josie’s phone rang. Josie groaned as she picked it up. _“It’s my mom.”_ Josie stated. Hope nodded as Josie answered the call.

Caroline: _Hey sweetie. Where are you?_

Josie: _I’m just at the house with Hope. Why? What’s up?_

Caroline: _Oh great. Is there any chance you two can meet me at the old Fell Church?_

Josie: _I guess so? Is it urgent?_

Caroline: _Yeah, it kind of is. I promise I won’t keep you for very long._

Josie: _Okay. Give us… (Hope: twenty) twenty minutes._

Caroline: _Okay, see you soon._

Josie: Bye mom.

_“What’s going on?”_ Hope asked like she hadn’t just listened to the phone call.

 _“I’m not too sure. Mom wants us to meet her at the old Fell Church. I guess we should go and find out.”_ Josie replied. She placed a quick kiss on Hope’s forehead before Hope unwrapped herself.

Hope and Josie both put on their shoes and headed out the door. Josie ran back inside as she had left the car keys on the table then made her way out to the car. She got in the drivers’ seat, buckled her seatbelt and started driving with Hope settled beside her.

***

_“Mom, what’s going on? Why did you drag me away from Stephanie?”_ Lizzie frowned.

 _“Me and Bonnie need yours and Josie’s help. You’ll be back soon enough.”_ Caroline replied.

_“Ugh fine!”_

Lizzie got in the car with her Mom and Bonnie and they drove over to the old Fell Church.

 _“What are we doing here?”_ Lizzie asked as she got out the car.

 _“You and Josie are going to help Bonnie send Kai’s body to the prison world, then you’re going to destroy it.”_ Caroline replied.

 _“Oh. Okay then.”_ Lizzie shrugged.

It didn’t take long for Hope and Josie to arrive. They got out of the car, walking hand-in-hand as they made their way over to the other three women.

 _“Oh they look adorable.”_ Bonnie smiled as she watched Hope and Josie walk towards her.

 _“They do. It kinda makes me sad to think about it though. She looks so much like Klaus right now. But I’m happy for them.”_ Caroline replied.

 _“Hey mom! What’s going on?”_ Josie asked as she unlinked Hope’s hand and hugged her mom.

 _“Hey sweetie. You and Lizzie are going to help Bonnie send Kai back to the prison world and then you’re going to destroy it. Then me and Bonnie are going to hide the different pieces so no one can access it ever again.”_ Caroline replied.

 _“Okay.”_ Josie smiled.

Bonnie gave the girls their instructions and the three of them set about the task of opening the prison world. Hope had retrieved Kai’s body and place it on the ground next to the ascendant. Bonnie, Josie and Lizzie chanted their spell and the portal opened, swallowing Kai whole.

As they closed the portal Hope joined in and helped to destroy the ascendant. It broke into twelve different pieces. Caroline and Bonnie each took six pieces each.

 _“Thank you for your help girls. It means a lot.”_ Bonnie smiled. _“I’m glad he’s finally gone now.”_

 _“It’s okay, Aunt Bonnie.”_ Josie and Lizzie smiled.

 _“Josie, what are you doing now?”_ Caroline asked.

 _“I think me and Hope are going to go back to the house if that is okay?”_ Josie replied.

 _“Yeah that’s fine. I’m going to go back to Europe on Friday. It would be lovely to catch up with both of you before I go.”_ Caroline replied.

_“Oh… Okay… We are do dinner tomorrow?”_

_“That sounds lovely. Have a good night girls. Drive safe. I love you.”_

_“I love you too mom.”_ Josie smiled as she took Hope’s hand in her own and they walked back to the car.

_“It’s kinda weird that my dad and your mom used to have a thing. Imagine that. We could have been step-sisters.”_ Hope laughed as she settled into the car seat.

 _“Oh wow. That would be weird. I mean it wouldn’t technically be illegal because Caroline isn’t my real mom, but it would still be creepy. I’m glad they didn’t get together because I prefer you as my girlfriend.”_ Josie laughed.

It was around 10pm when the girls arrived back at the house. Hope got out of the car and headed inside. She quickly rushed upstairs and got the blanket out from Caroline’s bedroom and brought it back downstairs. Josie was stood in the kitchen making a coffee for them both. _“Do you want to grab a DVD off the shelf?”_ Hope asked.

 _“It’s your turn to pick.”_ Josie replied.

 _“Okay.”_ Hope hummed as she disappeared inside the cupboard. She emerged a few minutes later with a DVD in hand.

 _“Wow. I thought you had gotten lost in there.”_ Josie laughed.

 _“That’s funny because I decided on Narnia.”_ Hope laughed as she held up the DVD as she bounced over to join Josie on the sofa. Hope put the DVD in and got settled. Josie curled herself up into Hope’s chest as she brought the blanket to rest over them both.

 _“You’re like a big kid sometimes.”_ Josie laughed as she shook her head.

 _“Thank you.”_ Hope beamed. _“It can’t be all doom and gloom all the time.”_

Josie hummed in response as she sunk herself deeper into Hope’s body. _“I love you Hope.”_

 _“I love you too Josie.”_ Hope smiled as she placed her hands around Josie’s waist.

*** In conclusion (a.k.a afterthought) ***

Alyssa was desiccated for her crimes against the Saltzman’s and the Salvatore school. She was placed in the tunnels under the school. Only Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline and Hope knew where she was placed. Josie, Lizzie, Kaleb and MG knew that she Alyssa was desiccated but the rest of the students at the Salvatore School were told that she had died in the fight against Kai.

Caroline and Bonnie scattered pieces of the ascendant around the world. Bonnie had casted a spell to notify her if any of the pieces were moved and put together, to date, there hasn’t been a notification.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH!! So the last chapter D: 
> 
> I'm sorry if I've disappointed you all in the ending. I didn't really know how to finish it D: But I did my best and I had fun writing this! Thank you all for sharing the journey with me :D It means alot to me! :D


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